Twilight Rewrite
by dear-marauder
Summary: A rewrite of the Twilight series that focuses more on action and mystery than romance. Some changes have been made to canon to accommodate the storyline. The romance is still Bella/Edward focused. M for swearing. DEAD FIC.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I took a deep breath and stopped in the middle of the breezeway. Passengers swore as they bumped into me from behind, and others gave me dirty looks as they tried to navigate around me. I wasn't sure why I was so nervous. I'd spent every summer of my nearly eighteen years in Forks. But it had always just been summers; I'd fly in, spend a few weeks with Charlie, have a sleep-over or two with Angela and Jess, and sneak off in the evenings to meet Jake. Being in Forks was always simple and fun.

But now I was going to be _living_ there, and that was something totally different. Living in Forks meant going to the local high school, and having to learn the names of the few people I didn't know yet, and being the full-time daughter of a confirmed bachelor. Charlie and I always had such a good time because we were more like friends than father and daughter. I wondered how actually living with him would change that.

A flight attendant came up and put her hand on my shoulder. "Honey, are you alright?"

I nodded.

"You need to exit now so we can shut the gate."

I nodded again and hefted my backpack higher on my shoulders. I could do this. And even if I couldn't it was too late to go back. Mom and Phil had already sold the house. I glanced at my watch and made a quick calculation to take in time zones. I guessed they were already in Florida.

I followed the flight-attendant down the breezeway and out through the gate. It was empty. I'd been standing longer than I realized.

I followed the signs though the airport and past security to the crowd in baggage claim. I'd checked one large suitcase and a box of books and shipped the rest by Fed Ex. The carousel wasn't even turning yet, so maybe I wasn't as late as I'd thought.

"Bella!"

I turned at the sound of my name, searching for the familiar voice.

"Over here!"

I spun in a circle, searching the crowd, and then caught sight of my name on a bright yellow poster board sign being held over the heads of most of the people. I grinned and began to push my way through the crowd.

"Angela, Jess, what are you guys doing here?"

Angela, the six-foot-tall one, lowered the sign while Jess launched herself at me, knocking me off balance.

"We had a shopping trip planned, and then Charlie mentioned you were flying in today, so we scheduled a welcome party." She looked up at me and frowned. "Why didn't you tell us you were moving here?"

"Jess," said Angela, "enough with the questions. Let her get her things and find Charlie; he is coming, isn't he?"

I nodded. "He's probably just a bit late."

"Right, well, we've got to go meet Mike and the guys at the mall. You could come, but I doubt we'd have room for your luggage."

"Thanks, Jess, but I'll be fine. You guys have fun; tell Mike and the others hi for me."

"We will." Jess linked her arm through Angela's and began to tow the taller girl towards the exit. Angela looked back over her shoulder and waved, then allowed Jess to pull her along. Moments later they were gone and I was alone again, but I suddenly felt much better. Angela, Jess, and I had been friends since before we could say "Barbie," and my being absent for most of the year hadn't ever changed that. In fact, even though I'd spent more time with my friends in Phoenix, none of them had ever been quite as important to me as the friends I had here.

The baggage carousel ground to life, distracting me from my thoughts, and I went to stand beside it. My suitcase was easy to spot when it came around – I'd tied a green ribbon to it – and so was my box of books, but when it swung around in front of me, I couldn't get a good enough grip on it and it slid right past. I swore and stamped my foot.

"Now, Bells, what have I told you about using language like that?"

I grinned and turned to face the voice behind me. "You said, 'Don't let your mother hear you.' Hey, Charlie. I've missed you."

"Me too." Charlie grinned and engulfed me in a hug.

People say we look a lot alike. We both have brown hair and eyes, we're both of average height, but Charlie has a weathered and world-weary look that comes from all the things he's seen and done during his years as a cop. His skin is permanently tanned, and his smiles don't quite reach his eyes, as if he's always second-guessing you. I think the only person he completely trusts is his best friend, Billy Black.

We broke the hug, and Charlie held me out at arms length to study me. "You're looking paler than usual, Bells. Did your mother work you to death this summer?"

"Felt like it. Remind me not to get married, okay?"

"That's my girl." Charlie bent down and picked up my suitcase. "Is this it?"

I told him about my box of books. He grimaced – my love of books was the one area where we had markedly different opinions – and lifted it off the carousel when it swung back around.

"Jacob Black keeps asking about you," he said as we walked out to the cruiser and stowed my luggage in the trunk. "Nice boy, that one."

I hid my grin until Charlie ducked into the front seat and started the engine. Neither he nor Billy had ever been very subtle about their hope that Jake and I would hook up someday, which Jake and I both found hilarious.

"How is he?" I asked as I climbed in beside Charlie.

"Busy with the shop, especially now that Billy's in a wheelchair."

"What? Since when?"

Charlie shrugged as he pulled out of the parking lot. "Been about six months now, I guess. Too damn stubborn to go to the hospital when his diabetes took a turn for the worse because he doesn't like Dr. Cullen, and now he's paying for it."

I wasn't surprised. Billy was one of the most stubborn people I knew. "Who's Dr. Cullen?"

"Came to town about a year ago – right after you went home last summer, I guess. Nice guy. He and his wife are foster parents for a group of teenagers, and they don't look like much more than kids themselves."

The new doctor and his family didn't hold much interest for me, so I changed the subject. "Is Jake running Black's Automotive now?"

"Yeah." Charlie sighed. "Sad thing. Kid went and got his GED so he could have the time to run it. He'll probably never get out of here and go to college now. Shame, too; Jacob's a bright boy."

While I agreed with Charlie, I knew Jake was probably relieved to be done with school. He usually spent the last few weeks of summer griping about how the teachers were always nagging at him to do the assignments their way and making him put his shoes back on and telling him not to ride his motorcycle to school because it wasn't safe. Jake had always been a bit of a rebel.

We made the rest of the drive in silence. Charlie called me nearly every weekend when I wasn't with him, so I didn't have any real news, and neither of us liked to talk just for the sake of having a conversation. I pulled a book out of my backpack to pass the time.

It took hours to get to Charlie's place – _my _place now, I remembered – because of traffic and a stop for dinner along the way. The sun has almost set by the time we arrived and I was glad Charlie had thought to turn on the porch light before he came for me.

He awkwardly hefted my suitcase and box out of the trunk of the cruiser, refusing to let me carry anything but my backpack, and then looked embarrassed when he realized he didn't have a third hand to unlock the front door.

"I've got a key," I reminded him, and dug it out of my backpack.

"Welcome home, Bells," Charlie said as I shoved the door open and stepped inside. He shuffled past me and dragged my luggage upstairs to my room.

I dropped shut the door and began to reacquaint myself with the house. It was small for a two-story; the attic had been converted into my bedroom when I was old enough to start visiting Charlie without my mother. Everything else, even the bathroom I shared with Charlie, was on the main floor. Without turning on the lights, I walked through the living room, running my fingers across the back of the frayed couch and noting the new flat-screen television. The room, with its worship of comfort and sports – I had no doubt the TV was for watching Seahawks games with Billy Black – was very obviously Charlie's.

The kitchen was not. The cupboards were painted a cheerful yellow and the walls had daisy-patterned paper. That was my mother's touch, and other than the "family" portraits of her and me she sent Charlie every year at Christmas, was the only indication that my father had ever been married.

He wasn't bitter – at least, I didn't think he was. He just lived his life, and my mother had chosen not to remain in it.

The flashing light on the answering machine caught my attention, so I hit the button and listened to the messages replay. There was one from one of Charlie's buddies confirming poker night on Saturday, and there was one from Jacob.

"Bella, it's Jake. Call me when you get in."

Grinning, I picked up the phone and called him back.

The line rang a couple of times then, "Hello?" The voice was too deep to be Jake's.

"Hey Mr. Black. It's Bella."

"Bella, it's nice to hear from you." He meant it too. I could almost hear the smile in his voice. "Did you have a nice flight?"

I shrugged, then realized he couldn't see me. "It wasn't horrible. No turbulence."

"That's good, that's real good. And your dad says you're planning to stay the whole year?"

"That's the plan."

"Well, good for you." I got the feeling that if he'd actually been in the room with me, he would be patting me on the head right now. "I suppose you're wanting to talk to Jacob?"

"If he's available."

"Just a moment." There was a clatter as Billy set the phone down on something, and then a screech that I assumed came from opening a window or a door. "Jacob!" he yelled. "Bella's on the phone!" Another clatter as he picked up the phone again. "He'll be right here."

"Thanks, Mr. Black."

There was a pause, as if Billy was trying to think of something else to say, then a rustling, muffled voices, and laughter.

"Bells!" Jake was the only person besides Charlie who ever called me that. "You're here?"

I grinned. "I'm here."

"Hot damn! I'll meet you at our spot. Fifteen minutes?"

"Jacob Black, La Push is nearly half-an-hour from Forks; there's no way you can get to our spot in ten minutes."

"Fifteen minutes," he said again and hung up.

"I'm going to kill you if you kill yourself," I muttered and set the phone back in its cradle. Then I went upstairs to find Charlie. I found him unpacking my suitcase for me.

"I didn't touch your books," he said as I entered. "I know you're really particular about how those are arranged."

"Charlie, you don't have to do that."

"It's no trouble. I'm almost done anyway." He slid the dresser drawers shut then stowed the suitcase under my bed.

"Jake called. He wants me to meet him."

Charlie stiffened. "Out in the woods?"

"That's where our spot is."

He turned to face me. "I don't know, Bells. It's not safe."

I laughed. "Charlie, I've been meeting Jake there every year since we were ten. You've never said anything about it being unsafe."

"It was different then. There's something living in the woods now – a bear or a large cougar. The boys keep bringing me reports of deer that are torn to pieces."

I wanted to shudder. Charlie's worry made me feel nervous, but my excitement over seeing Jake outweighed my concern. "Come on, Charlie, I'll be careful. I'll carry a flashlight, and I've got my cell phone."

Charlie sighed. "I can't stop you, can I?"

"You can, but Jake will think I've stood him up – he's gone already."

"Alright, go ahead, but call me when you get there, and I want Jake to bring you home."

"Thanks, Charlie." I stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, then ran down the stairs.

"Be back by eleven!" he called after me.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: I made a pretty significant change to Jake's character. Don't kill me. ducks

* * *

Chapter 2

It was cool, but not quite cold, when I stepped outside. I zipped my jacket and turned on the flashlight. Normally I loved walking in the woods at night, it felt lonely in a peaceful sort of way, but Charlie's warnings made me nervous, and I kept startling at every sound. Damn Jake and his insistence that we meet right away. I just knew that I was going to get to our spot and then have to wait for another ten minutes in the dark because he just couldn't safely drive to Forks in under twenty minutes. I distracted myself by thinking of the things I'd yell at him if I got mauled by a cougar.

I was staring at the ground so I wouldn't trip over anything, so I didn't immediately notice the man in my path. He held out a hand to stop me from running into him.

I yelped. I couldn't help it. After all, I'd been thinking that I was alone in the woods, and suddenly there was a stranger standing on the path in front of me, staring at me like I was some newly-discovered insect species.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

He blinked, as if I'd woken him from a trance, then completely ignored my question as he knelt to study something on the ground. "It's a good thing I got here when I did. You'd have scuffed out the tracks."

"What are you talking about?" I trained my flashlight beam on him, then immediately wished I hadn't. His skin was so pale that it almost seemed to glow. He lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the light, and I thought – just for a moment – that I saw him curl his lip in a snarl. Then he turned back to whatever he was looking at on the ground.

"Could you lower the light, please? In fact, I'd appreciate it if you'd turn it off. You're ruining my night vision."

I took another step backward. No way. No way in hell was I going to turn off the only light source after running into a total stranger in my woods.

"What are you doing trespassing on my father's property?"

The man stood, slowly and gracefully – no human should ever be that graceful, I thought – and turned to study me. "Your father's property. That would make you Isabella Swan."

"What of it?"

"I'm just clarifying."

"Why do you care?"

He stepped forward, causing me to take a step back in response. "Because," he said in a near-whisper, "you are _her_."

I wasn't sure what that meant, and at the moment I sure as hell didn't care. "Back off," I ordered, and shined my flashlight full in his face. It made his eyes appear yellow, and I thought I saw him snarl again, but no, I couldn't have, because now he had his head cocked and his lips quirked into a patronizing half-smile.

"Is that supposed to frighten me, Isabella Swan?"

I was at a loss. After all, the man had a point. How much harm did I expect to do by shining a flashlight into his eyes?

Suddenly, he jerked his head up and cocked to the side, as if he were listening to something, but I couldn't hear anything. He took a deep breath, then chuckled. "It's time for me to leave now, Isabella Swan." He stepped forward, and gently lowered my hand so that my flashlight shone on the ground again. "Be careful," he whispered. "There are dangerous things in the woods."

The next second he was gone, and even though I hadn't actually seen him do it, my forehead had registered the tiniest bit of pressure, as if he had kissed it before he disappeared.

What the hell?

Moments later, I heard feet pounding on the trail ahead of me. I opened my mouth to call out, but the words got stuck. I cleared my throat and tried again.

"Jake? Is that you?"

"Bella! Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

A huge shadow loomed over me, then dissolved into a much-larger Jake than I remembered as he stepped into the beam of my flashlight and wrapped his arms around me. "Oh, Bells, thank God. I got to our spot and you weren't there, and so I came to look for you, but then I could smell it, and I was sure something bad had happened."

"Jake, you're sounding like a crazy person. Also, you're squishing me."

"Sorry." He released me from the hug, but kept his hands on my shoulders. "Did you see anyone out here?"

I frowned. "Yes. There was a guy. Tall, pale, graceful. Yellow eyes."

Jake leaned down to look into my face. "Yellow eyes? Are you sure?"

"Not completely. They just looked yellow in the light. They might have been light brown, like his hair."

"Cullen." Jacob spat on the ground. "What was he doing here?"

"I don't know. Tracking something, I think."

"But he didn't hurt you?"

"No."

"Would you tell me if he had?"

"God, Jake, yes! What's wrong with you?"

Jake shook his head. "Nothing. If you're fine, I'm fine." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, which was at least six inches shorter than when I'd seen him last. "Let's just get you home." He put his arm around my shoulder and began to guide me back towards Charlie's – my house.

I squinted as I looked up at him. "Holy crap, Jake, you must have grown at least another foot this year. How tall are you now?"

"Six-foot-seven," he said with obvious pride in his voice.

"Crazy."

"Tell me about it. I remember when you and I were the same height."

I snorted. Jake had always been unusually tall for his age.

"So." Jake drew the word out into three syllables. "Do you have a boyfriend yet?"

I glared at him. He knew it was the question I hated most, which was why he always made sure to ask it the first time we ran into each other. "Actually, I did, but we broke up when I moved. Long-distance isn't really my thing."

"That's too bad." He sounded genuinely sorry.

I shrugged. "I wasn't in love with him or anything. How about you?"

"No."

"Just no? Come on, there's got to be somebody – unless you're not out yet." He looked away. "Damnit, Jake, you said you were going to take care of that last summer."

"Oh, I'm out," he said, then gave a bitter laugh. "Believe me, I'm out."

"They didn't take it well?"

"Dad's fine with it. It's the guys. Embry and Quill; Sam especially."

I winced. Jake had once had a crush on Embry.

"I'm sorry."

He shrugged. "They'll get used to it."

I could tell from the tone of his voice that the subject was now off-limits, and I couldn't think of another topic to turn the conversation to, so we just continued in an awkward silence until we reached my house.

"Are you coming in?" I asked when he opened the door for me.

"No, I need to get back. I've got stuff I need to do."

"Jake, I'm sorry," I said again. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

"It's not that, Bella. I've got rez stuff to attend to."

"Since when?" I knew Billy was one of the Quileute tribal elders, but Jake had never made it a secret that he scoffed at the old legends and tribal traditions.

He ran his hand through his hair again. "Look, Bells, a lot happened while you were away last year. Things are different now. I can't tell you about most of it."

I frowned. "Jake, we tell each other everything."

"Like I said, things are different now. I'll see you later." He gave a half-hearted wave, then loped off into the woods.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

All the lights in the house were off, so I assumed that Charlie had already gone to sleep. I tiptoed through the living room and upstairs, but I didn't actually go to bed. A glance at my radio clock told me it wasn't quite eleven, so Jake had brought me home in plenty of time.

What was wrong with him? He'd been so paranoid when he'd first found me. Granted, running into the man I assumed was Dr. Cullen had scared me a bit, but how would Jake have known about that before he got to me? And he'd said Dr. Cullen's name with such disgust. Maybe he blamed the doctor for Billy's loss of his legs.

But, Charlie said Billy had been the one who'd refused to see Dr. Cullen, so it wasn't the doctor's fault; Jake wouldn't hold a grudge like that. At least, not the Jake I'd grown up with.

I wasn't quite sure that the Jake I'd seen tonight _was_ the Jake I'd grown up with, and that scared me even more than meeting Dr. Cullen had.

Which was crazy, considering the things Dr. Cullen said to me. I didn't understand any of them, of course. "'You are _her,_'" I repeated. That was just . . . creepy. And had he actually kissed me on the forehead? I hadn't seen him do it, but I knew what being kissed felt like – and it felt exactly like what I hadn't actually seen Dr. Cullen do.

But that was crazy. First of all, Charlie had said that Dr. Cullen was married, and most married men didn't run around kissing women who weren't their wives. Second, even if Dr. Cullen did run around kissing women, there was no reason for him to pick me.

The whole thing was just weird.

I asked Charlie about Dr. Cullen the next morning at breakfast.

"He's a nice guy; works nights in the ER. Gets along really well with the kids, especially."

"What's he look like?"

Charlie chewed a bit of cereal while he concentrated. "Tall, thin, blond," he said.

"How blond? Just sort of, or really pale?"

"Really pale. His hair almost looks white."

I sighed, and I wasn't sure whether it was from disappointment or relief. It was nice to know that the local ER doctor wasn't running around in the woods having cryptic conversations with women. But if the boy – and now that I thought about it, I realized he hadn't looked much older than me – wasn't Dr. Cullen, which of the Cullens' foster children was he?

"How many kids do they have?"

"At least half a dozen."

"What are they like?"

Charlie frowned. "Why the sudden interest?"

I almost panicked. I couldn't tell Charlie that I'd met one of them in the woods and that he'd said crazy things to me. I settled on: "They're the only people in town I haven't met. I'd like to know a little bit about them before school starts."

The excuse seemed to satisfy Charlie. "They're all really good-looking. The whole lot of them could be models. In fact, I think one of the girls – the blond one – is. One of the boys volunteered as an assistant coach at the junior high last year. The youngest girl helps Esme – Mrs. Cullen – run a florist shop out of their house. The rest of the kids seem pretty shy, I've never actually met any of them before."

"How can they do all that and still go to school?"

"They don't. Some of them got their GEDs, and I think the rest are being homeschooled."

So I wouldn't be running into the strange boy at school on Monday. I wasn't sure whether I was relieved or disappointed. I was saved from having to make a decision about it when the phone rang. I looked at the caller ID readout.

"Jessica," I told Charlie before answering. He shrugged and went to get ready for work.

The moment I said hello, Jess started babbling. "Hey, Bella. How's it going? What are your plans for today?"

"I don't have any; why?"

"Great! Tomorrow is September 11, and Angela's dad is preaching a sort of patriotic memorial sermon at church, and Angela and the twins are working on decorations – I guess Pastor Webber wants flags and stuff everywhere. Anyway, I told Angie I'd come and help her with stuff, and I thought that, since you aren't busy, you'd like to come too."

"Sure, I'll come. What time?"

"Angie said come whenever you want. I've got a breakfast date with Mike, so I won't be there for a while yet."

"So, you and Mike. Since when?"

"Oh, a few weeks now. Middle of summer, I guess. I'll tell you all about it later. So, you remember where the Lutheran church is, right?"

"Yeah, it's on Blackberry."

"Great! You really are still one of us. Okay, Mike's here, I gotta go. See you later."

The line went dead. I shook my head and grinned. I liked Jessica a lot, but her boundless energy was daunting. Suddenly, spending the entire school year with her, attending all the sports games and bake sales and dances she'd be sure to be involved in, seemed exhausting. I wondered how Angela managed it.

Charlie came out of room. "Plans with the girls?" he said as he shrugged into his jacket.

"Yeah." I began stacking our breakfast dishes in the sink. One of us would get around to washing them eventually. "Do you want me to make dinner tonight?"

"Go have fun with your girlfriends. You've got all year to cook for me." He started to walk out the door.

"Charlie, wait. Can you give me a ride to Angie's church?"

He turned back and raised his eyebrows. "You've got your license, right?"

"Yes."

"So drive yourself." He walked out before I could respond.

Drive myself? What the hell was that supposed to mean?

I finished clearing the table, then grabbed my purse and jacket on my way out the door. When I stepped out onto the porch Charlie's meaning became perfectly clear. A rusty, dented old Chevy pickup from the fifties sat in the driveway. It was painted a particularly ugly shade of mud brown that clashed with the bright red bow on the hood, and looked like it could survive an onslaught by Mad Max. I loved it.

I ran down the steps and climbed inside. There was a note taped to the dashboard.

_Bells,_

_I know your birthday isn't until Tuesday, but I figured you could use your present a couple days early. It's great to have you here this year._

_Charlie_

_P.S. The new radio was from Jacob._

I smiled, then tucked the note away in the glovebox for safekeeping. The engine, when I started it, sounded like it ran perfectly. Admittedly, I didn't know a lot about vehicle maintenance, but it didn't make any clunking or grinding noises that might signal problems, and I was pretty sure that Jake would have insisted on tuning it up when he installed the radio. I'd have to thank them both later.

When I turned the radio on, it began blasting a CD by one of my favorite bands. I rolled down my window, despite the cold, and reversed out of the driveway, singing along with the lyrics as I headed into town.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

Forks is not a big town. It's impossible to not know where everything is, but even so I worried that I was driving the wrong way. Something about being behind the wheel of my own vehicle, in a town I'd never actually driven in, made me feel both powerful and frightened. I drove two miles-per-hour under the speed limit the entire time, because I was afraid I was going to do something wrong. I'm pretty sure I held up traffic a little.

Despite my slow driving, it didn't take me long to pull into the parking lot of the Lutheran church. I parked next to Angela's car and walked inside. The church was quiet – eerily quiet. I felt a bit like the heroine from some horror movie, waiting for a crazy priest to jump out from behind a door and grab me. But that was crazy. Lutherans didn't even have priests, did they? The only thing I really knew about Lutherans was that the first one had gotten in a lot of trouble for nailing a list to the door of his church.

I heard a high-pitched wail, and it took all my willpower not to scream. Seconds later I heard Angela yell, "Isaac! Joshua! Get back here, and put the glue down." Relieved that the wailing was just the twins getting on each other's nerves again, I followed their voices to the church sanctuary. Angela was sitting on the floor by the pulpit with red, white, and blue crepe paper wrapped around her head and shoulders.

"Need some help?"

"Bella, you're my savior. Can you get the stapler away from Isaac before he sticks his eyelids together, or something?"

"Sure."

Easier said than done. Isaac – and I could only tell the difference because he was the one with the stapler – decided this was a more fun game than chasing his brother around the sanctuary. At nine, he was quite a bit smaller than me, which made it easy for him to crawl over, under, and around the pews, leaving me stumbling in his wake, cursing, then apologizing in case God was listening. Joshua thought this was a lot of fun, and it wasn't long before they were working as a team, passing the stapler back and forth between them. I finally gave up and went back to sit with Angela.

"Monsters," I panted. "You need help with anything that doesn't involve pre-teen boys?"

"The pulpit's done. I could use your help with hanging streamers along the pews."

I draped a length of paper between the first two pews and held it in place for Angela to tape. "Why do you have the unholy terrors today anyway?"

"Dad's working on his sermon, so I've got them all day. Which means they'll have to come to lunch with Ben and me." She rolled her eyes. "They're going to make gagging noises every time we so much as hold hands."

"Probably. So the Ben thing's still going well?"

She ducked her head a little, but she couldn't hide her smile. "He's great, Bella. He and my dad get along, and he doesn't care that I'm taller than him." She paused a moment to tape another length of paper. "We should go on a triple date sometime. Ben and me, Jess and Mike, and you could bring one of Mike's friends – Tyler's pretty cute – or that Jacob guy you hang out with."

I laughed, wondering what Jacob would have to say about the idea of a triple date. "That might be fun. I'll give Jake a call." I pulled out my cell phone to do just that, but it started ringing before I could. I read the caller ID. "Oh, it's Jess." I pushed the talk button and Jess started in before I had a chance to answer.

"Hey, Bella. Are you and Angie still at the church?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Mike had to cancel on me. I'll tell you when I get there. You guys want me to bring you coffee or something?"

I pulled the phone away from my mouth. "Angie, she wants to know if we want coffee." Angela gave me a thumbs-up and went back to taping stuff. "Yeah, Jess, coffee sounds great."

"Okay, I'll be right there." The line went dead.

"What's the deal?"

I shrugged. "Something about Mike cancelling. We'll know soon."

Angela and I managed to finish decorating the first row of pews by the time Jess arrived. She passed out the drinks – she'd even brought hot chocolate for the twins – before launching into her story.

"So I drove to Newtons' to meet Mike. He _said_ he'd have today off – it's our two month anniversary, you know – but then when I got there, he said he couldn't go. His parents needed him to cover Amy Kim's shift, because apparently she's playing hooky."

I almost choked on my coffee. "Amy Kim? Is this the same Amy Kim who graduated from high school a year early because she took a double load of classes her senior year?"

"The same one. Mike's mom called Amy's mom to see if she was just running late or something, and apparently Amy never came home from her date last night."

"We saw her," Angie said. "Ben and I. At the Taqueria, after the shopping trip. They looked like they were having a pretty good time."

"Yeah, well, I guess we know why."

I shook my head. "I'm not buying it. This isn't Lauren Mallory we're talking about here, this is _Amy Kim_. If she's ever missed a day of work in her life, I'll eat Charlie's tackle box. Angela, did you hear any of their conversation?"

She sipped her coffee as she thought. "They said something about going for a moonlit forest stroll. Typical first-date, overly-romantic stuff."

I felt a chill run down my spine as I recalled Charlie's words about the dangerous animal in the woods. "I'll be right back." I took my phone out to the church foyer and called Charlie's line, hoping he'd be at his desk. He was.

"Swan speaking."

"Hey, Charlie."

"Bells." He sounded pleased to hear me. "What are you calling for? Thought you were with the girls."

"I am." I double checked to make sure I was still alone in the room. "Remember what you said about something being in the woods?" Charlie mumbled something that sounded like assent. "Well, a girl who works for the Newtons didn't show up to work today. Amy Kim."

"I think I know her. Goes to Peninsula College; pre-med or something."

"Probably. She's a real workaholic. Anyway, Angie saw her last night at the Taqueria – she and her boyfriend were talking about taking a walk in the woods."

The line went very quiet.

"Charlie, are you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm here, Bells. A walk in the woods; are you sure?"

"That's what Angie said. And – " I hesitated, unsure of just how much to reveal. "When I was out last night, I ran into one of the Cullen kids. He said he was tracking something."

"Goddammit, Bella, why didn't you say anything last night?"

"It didn't seem important at the time."

"Of course it's important. I don't want some punk ass high schooler running around in the woods at night playing Superman. He's gonna get himself killed." Given the way the boy had seemed to just vanish, I doubted he was in much danger, but I didn't tell Charlie that. "Which Cullen?"

"I don't know, he didn't say."

"What'd he look like?"

"Six feet tall, skinny, brown and brown."

I heard Charlie muttering to himself as he took down the information. "Sounds like either Edward or their new kid. Look, honey, I don't want to smother you, but be very careful. If this thing has escalated to attacking humans, you're not going to be safe out in the woods, even if Jacob is around. Stay here in town or at La Push, you hear me?"

"Yeah, I hear you."

"Good girl. I'll check on Amy and give you a call when I know something I can tell you."

"Thanks, I appreciate it. And, Charlie? Thanks for the truck."

He was silent a moment. I think I embarrassed him.

"You're welcome, Bells."

"What was that about?" Jessica asked when I went back inside the sanctuary.

"Just checking in with Charlie."

Jess shrugged and went back to taping up streamers, but Angela seemed suspicious. She opened her mouth to say something, but Jess interrupted.

"Angie said something about us going on a triple date. You want to go this weekend? We could go back to Port Angeles; I think that romantic comedy with Reese Witherspoon will be playing."

I laughed. I couldn't imagine Jake enjoying a chick flick, so of course I had to invite him, but when I called his house, nobody answered. I tried the shop, but no one was there either.

"Odd," I muttered. Maybe he was out with the guys, but when I'd talked to him last night, it had sounded like things were a little strained between them.

I put the phone back in my pocket and returned to helping the girls hang streamers. The conversation turned to my birthday and how I wanted to celebrate. When I said that I didn't need a big celebration, Jess gasped like she'd been stabbed.

"Of _course_ you need a big celebration. You're turning eighteen. You can smoke, you can register to vote, you can get a tattoo and piercings. It's a big deal."

I rolled my eyes. "Alright, we can have a party." Jess squealed and clapped her hands. "A _small_ party. And small by my standards, not yours. I don't want the whole of Forks High piling into Charlie's living room."

"A small party, I promise. Ten people, fifteen tops. Now, go away. I want to start planning, and I don't want you to overhear anything."

"Jessica, it's not a surprise party," Angela pointed out. "She knows it's happening; she offered to have it at her house."

"That's not the point. In fact, Bella, you're not allowed in your house after school on Tuesday."

"What the hell am I supposed to do after school?" I demanded. "I _live_ there."

Jess waved a hand dismissively. "Go hang out at the library, or something. The second you get your nose in a book, you'll forget everything else. You won't be bored." She had a point. "Now _go_. I can't start until you leave."

I put my hands up in surrender and began to back up the aisle. "I'm going, I'm going. And no pink!" I called over my shoulder as I exited the sanctuary.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I apologize in advance for any typos/nonsensical parts. It's late, but watching _Twilight_ yesterday put me in the mood to work on this again, and this chapter got longer than I expected it to. As always, con crit is appreciated.

Also, as you'll notice, I decided to have Sue die instead of Harry. I'm not planning to have Charlie remarry at any point, so I decided I'd rather keep the the fishing buddy alive. Together with Billy, they make a nice bachelor's club.

* * *

Chapter 5

Now what? If Jess wasn't going to let me hang out with her and Jake wasn't answering his phone, I had nothing to do. Maybe the library, like Jess had suggested. After all, I'd read all the books I'd brought from Phoenix at least twice. I climbed back in my truck and drove back out to the main avenue, wondering what I'd do if the library was closed on Saturdays.

Forks Memorial Library was, in fact, open. I parked the truck and went inside. The librarian at the desk smiled at me, but the expression on her face looked unsure – like she was worried that I'd run off with all the books because I was new in town. I waved and began to make my way through the stacks.

I was deciding between a biography of Marie Antoinette and the newest _Wheel of Time_ novel when my phone rang. It sounded impossibly loud in the library silence; I swear I heard it echo. Cursing, I dug it out of my pocket and flipped it open.

"Yeah?"

"Hey Bells. Sorry I missed your call. I was stuck under the truck and couldn't reach my phone."

I frowned. "It's Saturday. I thought the shop was closed on weekends."

"It is. I'm working on my truck. So, what's up?"

Before I could answer, the librarian poked her head around the corner of the stacks. "We don't allow cell phones in the library," she said in a stage whisper. "Take it outside, please."

I grimaced. "Right. Sorry." I left the books I'd been considering on a table and walked outside. "Sorry about that, Jake. I was in the library."

"Hey, no problem. So why'd you call?" he asked again.

"Jess and Angela want me to go see the new chick flick with them one of these weekends."

"And?"

"They want to make a triple date of it." I hunched down as if evading a swat.

Jake spoke slowly. "Are…you asking me out…on a date?" His voice was full of bewilderment.

"Not a _date_ date, stupid. But if you don't come, they're going to try to make me go with one of Mike's friends."

"So, I'm _saving_ you from a date."

"Exactly!" The line went silent. "Jake?"

"Well." He drew the word out. "That's asking a lot."

"I know."

"You're asking a gay man to go sit through a movie marketed to heterosexual women to enable them to engage in escapist fantasies about a perfect man who doesn't actually exist."

I winced again. "Yes. I know, I'll owe you."

"You'll buy the tickets."

"Yes."

"And the popcorn."

"Yes."

"And dinner afterward."

"That's stretching it, Jake," I warned.

"Fine, just the tickets and popcorn. And the soda."

"We'll see."

"When?"

I shrugged. "Probably next weekend. I'll let you know."

"Alright, I'll come."

"Thanks, Jake. You're rescuing me from a terrible fate."

"Yeah, your own personal knight in shining armor, I know."

"Well, you already saved me from a mediocre sound system, so I thought you could continue the tradition." He laughed. "Thanks for the radio, and the tune-up, I assume. The truck sounds brand new."

"You're welcome. Happy early birthday."

I looked in the window and saw that the librarian had picked up the books I'd left on the table. If I didn't catch her, she'd reshelf them and I'd have to do my search all over again. "Jake, I've got to go. You coming with your dad to Charlie's poker game tonight?"

"Sure thing."

"See you then."

I snapped the phone shut and ran inside to catch the librarian.

~*~

I was so absorbed in my book that I didn't notice Charlie was late coming home until a vehicle that wasn't Charlie's pulled into the driveway. I put my book down and looked out the window. The van was vaguely familiar; I'd seen it on the reservation a time or two, so I assumed the driver was one of Billy's friends – and I was proven correct when Jake jumped out the side door and lifted Billy's wheelchair out behind him.

I glanced at the clock – after seven. Where the hell was Charlie? I dialed his private office line but just got voicemail, so I tried the front desk. The receptionist told me that Charlie was out, but that she'd leave a message for me.

Someone knocked, so I snapped my phone shut and went to answer the door. Besides Billy and Jake, there was a man about Charlie and Billy's age and a boy, a few years younger than Jake and I, who looked almost exactly like him.

"Come on in, guys. Charlie's not home."

"That's all right," said Billy. "I'm sure we can entertain ourselves until he gets here." I stepped aside so Jake could push him through the doorway and tried not to stare. It was just so strange to see Billy nearly immobile. I remembered watching him play football on the beach with Jake and now – Billy must have really hated Dr. Cullen to let himself get that bad.

"Where is Charlie?"

I mentally shook myself and turned to face the other man. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't remember his name. "Harry Clearwater," he said, obviously sensing my confusion, "and my youngest, Seth." He jerked a thumb in the boy's direction.

"Harry, right. You're one of Charlie and Billy's fishing buddies."

"On occasion."

"Come in, sit down." I draped the blanket I'd been using over the back of the couch to try and make things look slightly more presentable. "Charlie's still at work. I can't get a hold of him."

"That's all right; Billy and I will just go into the kitchen and start a game without him. Waylon should be here anytime."

I followed them to the kitchen and watched as Harry shoved one of the chairs out of the way so Billy had room at the table. "Can I get you anything? Chips? A drink?"

"No, it's Waylon's turn tonight. He'll be bringing some beer and a couple of pizzas," said Billy. "You can have some, if you'd like. The pizza, not the beer," he clarified.

"Thanks." I stood there for another moment, but Billy pulled out a pack of cards and began to deal like I wasn't even there. "I'll just go talk to Jake, then." They didn't even seem to notice when I walked away.

When I went back into the living room, I saw that Seth was sitting in an armchair and looking decidedly uncomfortable. Jake had sprawled out on the couch and taken up all the room; his bare feet hung over the end a good six inches. "Move over," I ordered, and grabbed his feet to pull them off the couch so I'd have room, but I stopped the moment my fingers touched his skin. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Your skin is burning up, like you've got a fever."

Jake jerked his feet away and sat up straight. Seth shot him a look I couldn't read, then looked down at the floor. "I'm fine," Jake said again. "Harry just had the heat up too high in the van."

I frowned. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Bella, there's nothing wrong with me."

There was another knock at the door. Waylon, I assumed. When I opened the door I was greeted by a stack of pizza boxes and beer cans, topped with a balding head. "Chow coming through," he called and pushed me aside as he stumblingly made his way to the kitchen.

"Is this a regular thing?" I asked Jake as I closed the door.

"For a few months," Jake said. "Ever since – " He trailed off and glanced at Seth.

"Ever since my mom died," Seth finished.

"I'm sorry," I said softly.

Seth shrugged. "It's been a while. Charlie and Billy started this as a way to distract him. Your dad's a nice guy, Isabella."

"Just Bella," I said as I moved back to the couch. "How old are you, Seth?"

"Fourteen."

"Freshman?"

"Sophomore."

I raised my eyebrows. "Really? Skip a grade?"

"No, I just started early."

"Don't let him fool you," Jacob interjected. "He's a lot smarter than he wants anyone to know. He's just afraid the rest of the guys will think he's a nerd."

Seth blushed.

"Ignore Jake," I said. "There's nothing wrong with being smart. I think it's cool."

"Of course you do, bookworm." But he reached across and ruffled Seth's hair in a way that showed he was just teasing. "So, Charlie's still at work?"

"Yeah." I curled up in my corner of the couch and tucked my feet up under me. "Amy Kim didn't come home from her date last night."

"So?"

"So, Amy doesn't skip out like that. She and her boyfriend went for a walk in the woods, and apparently they haven't come back yet."

Seth stiffened and shot a glance at Jake, who made a point of not making eye contact.

"What's with you two?"

"Nothing," Seth said quickly, but he stood and walked towards the door. "I'll be right back. I need to call Leah."

I frowned as he shut the door behind him. "Who's Leah?"

"His big sister. She's a couple years older than us." He began to page through my book, but I snatched it out of his hands.

"Jake, what the hell is going on? You've been acting weird ever since I got into town. Do you not want me to be here?"

He finally met my gaze then. "Of course I want you to be here."

"They why are you acting like this?"

"Like what?"

"So secretive! You were talking crazy last night, and then the moment I mention the woods you get all suspicious, and Seth needs to make a phone call. Are you hiding something from me?"

Jake sighed. "Bella, I told you things are different. I'm getting more involved in stuff at the rez."

"What does that have to do with the woods? They're not part of the reservation."

"It's complicated."

"Look, I know there's a bear or something running around out there; Charlie told me to stay in town until they kill it. But it's just a bear. What's so complicated about that?"

"Just stay out of it, Bella," he snapped. "I'm trying to keep you safe."

"I don't need you to protect me, Jacob. I'm not dumb enough to go into the woods with a man-eating bear."

"You did last night."

"It wasn't attacking people last night."

"You don't know that!" He leaned forward and his eyes were furious. If it weren't for the fact that we had at least one big fight every summer I might have been intimidated. "You haven't been here all year. You don't know what's been going on here, but I do. Ever since – "

"Jacob, stop it!"

We both looked up, shocked, at Seth. He'd come back inside while we'd been arguing, and we hadn't noticed. "What would Sam say?"

"What the hell does Sam have to do with anything?" I demanded. "Last I knew you didn't even like him." But Seth's words seemed to have a calming effect. I could tell by Jake's clenched fists that he was still angry, but he was making a point of trying to control his temper – yet another thing that was different. In the past, he'd have told Seth off for interrupting and then kept yelling at me.

"What about Amy?" Seth said. "Does anybody know anything?"

I shook my head. "Charlie said he'd call when he had something to tell me."

"Call me when he does," Jake said.

"Why? You don't even know her."

"Just do it for me. Consider it advance payback for going to the chick flick."

"Alright, fine," I said with a huff. "But I'm going to make you tell me what's going on."

Jake laughed, but it was bitter and sarcastic rather than good-natured. "If only it were that easy."

Harry poked his head through the kitchen doorway. "You kids want some pizza?"

"Sure, Dad. Thanks." Seth moved towards the kitchen, and Jake stood up to follow him. I noticed them exchanging a look; Jake raised an eyebrow, and Seth give a slight nod.

I felt flabbergasted, and beyond that, hurt. It was obvious that Jake was hiding something from me, but I'd known that last night. If Jake wanted to keep secrets, that was fine with me. But to keep something secret from me that Seth clearly knew about? That was what hurt.

"Screw you, Jake," I muttered. I picked up my book and went upstairs to my room.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Wow, this has taken me quite a while to write. Sorry to those of you who have been waiting for the update. I had finals, and then I was in a wedding over Christmas break. Anyway, here's the new chapter. I didn't plan for the first half of this, but it happened, and it seems appropriate. The next couple of chapters should have more of the Cullens in them.

* * *

Chapter six

Jake tried to come up and make nice, but I ignored him. Immature, I know, but if a girl can't throw a bit of a tantrum in her own room, where can she? Things got quiet downstairs about ten. After I heard the last vehicle pull out of the driveway, I went downstairs to clean up the kitchen. I needn't have bothered. The guys had stacked up all the pizza boxes next to the garbage can, and thrown all the beer containers in the recycling bin. They'd been very considerate.

I opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of beer. Charlie would kill me if he found out, but I figured that he probably wouldn't notice. I popped the lid off and went out to the front porch to continue my sulk.

It was too dark to see anything, but just knowing that the woods were there made me feel better. I heard what I thought might be howl of a coyote and smiled. The woods were peaceful; not even the bear could change that for me.

The crunch of feet on gravel made me stiffen. Crap. If that was Charlie, I was grounded for sure. I set the beer bottle down behind a railing, hoping it was hidden from view. A second later, I realized that I hadn't heard Charlie's car. But who the hell else would be here at ten o' clock in the evening?

Jake. He was still trying to make up with me. That had to be it.

"I can hear you out there," I called. "Stop skulking around."

"Very well."

I froze. That wasn't Jake's voice, and it certainly wasn't the way Jake talked. It was too cultured, too formal.

More gravel footsteps.

"You're not Jake," I said, hoping I didn't sound as nervous as I felt.

"Certainly not." I could see the figure now, at the edge of the porch light's circle.

"What the hell are you doing on my property – again?"

"That is a good question." He emerged from the shadows, and then stood about ten feet from the porch, hands clasped behind his back, head cocked to one side as he studied me. His gaze was unnaturally direct and unnerving. I didn't realize until later that it was because he didn't blink as often as he should have. His eyes, it turned out, weren't yellow, but a very light brown. The tint of the porch light made them look amber.

"You're one of the Cullens."

"Indeed. My name is Edward."

"I asked you what you were doing here."

"And I answered." One side of his mouth turned up in a slight smirk. "Do I make you nervous, Isabella?"

"No," I lied. He chuckled, and his grin widened. I was pretty sure he knew I was lying. "Charlie's going to kill you if he finds you here."

"Will he? Well, that might be a welcome change."

"Excuse me?" Was this guy for real? Was he even sane?

"It's nothing you need to worry about."

Suddenly, so quickly I hadn't even seen him move, he was standing next to the porch, directly below me. The railing was still a barrier between us, but it felt superficial. If he could move that far in an instant, I was sure a porch railing wouldn't be any challenge. I tried to take a step backward, but couldn't. I looked down and realized Edward had a hold of one of my hands. Fear gave way to anger.

"Let go of me." My voice was deceptively calm. It was the tone of voice I used with Jake, right before we got into our worst fights.

Edward's eyes widened and he let go of my hand as if it had burned him. "I beg your pardon. I did not intend to be presumptuous. I merely wished to warn you."

"Yeah, I know, there are dangerous things in the woods. You said all of this last night."

"Things were different last night. I didn't know you'd seen the wolves then."

I frowned. "There aren't any wolves in Washington."

"You heard them as well as I did."

"Coyotes," I snapped.

Edward raised an eyebrow. "As you like." I got the feeling he was laughing at me. Then his expression sobered. "You're telling the truth, aren't you? You honestly don't know about the wolves."

"What's to know? They lived here a long time ago and then got hunted to the brink of extinction. So what?"

Edward ran a hand through his hair. "I must confess, this is not what I expected. I can tell that they've been here, their stench is everywhere, so I naturally assumed – and with your father's involvement with the Kim girl – "

"What do you know about Amy?"

He shrugged. "The same as everyone else. She went into the woods with her boyfriend, and she came out alone, rather the worse for it. Our fathers are with her now."

"How do you know?"

"I just spoke with Carlisle."

"Is she okay?"

"She's not injured."

I frowned. "That's not the same thing."

He shrugged again, then began to walk away.

"Where are you going?"

"I have things to do, Isabella. I can't spend all my time with you, much as you might wish me to." He gave me that lopsided smirk again.

"That wasn't what I meant," I said, feeling flustered and a bit embarrassed he'd taken it that way.

"You will, in time." He stepped backwards out of the light and then just vanished.

Still staring at the spot where he'd disappeared, I blindly groped for my beer and took a long swig. The man – boy – whatever he was – was more than a little creepy. I didn't think he was dangerous; after all, he'd had plenty of opportunity to hurt me if he really wanted to. But he was very unnerving. How the hell did he just appear and disappear like that? It was like he wasn't human. And those eyes – I'd never seen eyes that color before, and I couldn't decide whether they were beautiful or horrifying.

And what was with all the talk about wolves?

At least Amy seemed to be okay. If Charlie was at the hospital with her, he'd probably be out most of the night getting her statement and doing paperwork. He'd probably just crash at the station. I figured I'd go in and take him breakfast and some coffee in the morning, and then see if I was allowed to visit Amy.

I finished the last of the beer and then went inside, double-checking to be sure the doors were both locked, then, I went upstairs and locked my bedroom window as well. I didn't think I was in any danger, but I'd rather be a little paranoid than stupid.

~*~

I stopped by Forks Coffee Shop the next morning and got Charlie a steak and eggs breakfast and coffee to-go. I found him sitting at his desk, staring off into space.

"I brought you breakfast," I said, setting the paper bag on his desk in front of him. "Steak's medium; I couldn't remember how you like it."

"Thanks Bells," he said, absently shoving the sack aside. "I appreciate it." I handed him the cup of coffee, but he didn't drink it; he just kept turning it around in his hands.

"I heard that you guys found Amy."

He looked up, startled. "Who told you?"

"It doesn't matter." I figured that if I told him Edward Cullen had stopped by after dark, he'd probably go kill the guy. "Is she okay?"

"Amy? She'll be fine. But her boyfriend…" He took his first sip of the coffee.

I sat down on the edge of his desk. "Charlie, what happened?"

He sighed. "I can't tell you much, Bells. Preservation of the investigation and all. But it was bad." He locked eyes with me, and I could still see raw grief in them. "It was really bad. One of the worst things I've ever seen, and I've been on the job for years. The kid was just torn apart."

I winced.

"Stay out of the woods, Bella. You stay the hell out of the woods, you hear me?"

"Yeah, I hear you." We just sat there silently for a few minutes. Charlie didn't want to talk anymore, and I had no idea what to say to him. Finally, I asked, "Can I see Amy?"

Charlie shrugged. "She's in the hospital."

I nodded. "You got a phone book?"

Charlie opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out the book, dropping it onto my lap. "Knock yourself out." He finally pulled the paper sack towards him and pulled out his breakfast.

I thumbed through the yellow pages until a found the listings for local florists. There was nothing about the shop Charlie had said the Cullens ran. I closed the phone book and looked at the date – it was over three years old.

"Where's the Cullen's shop? You've talked a lot about them, and I'm curious," I said when Charlie gave me a sharp look. "Plus, I want to get flowers for Amy."

He hesitated, and for a moment I thought he was going to tell me I couldn't go. "They live on the edge of town," he said finally. "Esme has the shop on their property." He wrote down the address for me. "Be careful. I know it's daylight, and whatever is out in the woods probably isn't much of a danger during the day, but still."

"I'll be good," I promised. "If I see anything dangerous, I won't chase it into the woods with a shotgun."

"You'd better not." I kissed Charlie's cheek and hopped down off the desk. "Call me when you get back to town."

I made sure he couldn't see me roll my eyes. "Yes, Father." The fact that he didn't sense my sarcasm showed me just how worried he really was. Whatever was out in the woods, it had to be much worse than just a bear – or a wolf, if Edward Cullen could be trusted.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Sorry guys. It's been...way too long since I updated. Thanks for the reviews, and if I didn't get a chance to actually reply, I apologize. The last two quarters of college just sort of kicked my ass, then I had to do the job-hunt thing, but I found one, and I've still got time to write -- a lot more time than I had in college. I'm hoping to _try_ and write/publish a new chapter every week for both this and _Inheritance Redux_. I've also got a Narnia sequel I'm working on, but I want to get a bit more of that written before I start publishing it.

In answer to breanna's question, no, in this fic Edward doesn't have any problems being around Bella. Bella smelling so good to Edward in particular seemed to me to be a metaphor for finding a person's One True Love, which is a concept I absolutely despise.

So, yes, Bella meets more of the Cullens. This chapter is a tad short, but the next one (at the hospital with Amy) could get a bit long, so I didn't want to combine them.

* * *

Chapter seven

The drive to the Cullens took a bit longer than I had expected. Forks wasn't exactly large, but the address Charlie had given me was a good five miles out of town. I figured that Mrs. Cullen must be really good at what she did in order to sustain a business practically in the middle of nowhere.

I signaled and pulled off the road onto a long gravel driveway. It was overgrown, and even though my truck was ugly as sin, I winced as brambles and branches grazed the sides – they made eerie screeching noises that put me in mind of ghosts.

The driveway wound up the side of a hill, and when I finally reached the top and emerged from the woods, my jaw dropped. There in front of me stood the most beautiful house I'd ever seen. It wasn't quite a mansion, but it was still huge – three stories tall. The southern walls were made entirely of glass, and the sun gleaming off them was blinding. I winced and made a mental note to put sunglasses in the truck.

Beside the house, and attached by a covered walkway, was another large building. This one had no windows at all, but I could tell by the doors that it was a garage. I counted six, no eight, doors, and each door looked wide enough for two cars to drive through.

Holy crap. These people must be crazy-rich if they had enough vehicles to fill a sixteen-car garage. No wonder Esme wasn't worried about high traffic in her flower shop – she probably didn't need to make a profit in order to keep it running.

But where did it all come from? Sure, Carlisle was a doctor, and they made a lot of money, but not _this_ much – not even with all of their kids taking on jobs as well. They had to have gotten an inheritance, or a large settlement of some kind. Did the government pay people when they adopted kids? Maybe that's why the Cullens had so many.

Amy, I reminded myself. I was here to buy flowers for Amy. And satisfy my curiosity, but I seemed to have dug up more questions rather than answers.

I scanned the property again and saw another building that I'd missed. It was much smaller than the other two – just a little building the size of a double-wide mobile home, but even this bore the marks of wealth. The walls were of stone and looked a bit like my imaginings of Hadrian's Wall, if Hadrian's Wall had had flowerboxes overflowing with blooms set into it. A chimney poked out of the roof, but there was no smoke; it was still a bit too warm for that, even in Washington. The overall picture was that of the perfect country cottage. It would have been nauseating if it hadn't seemed sincere, though what it was being sincere about I wasn't sure.

I parked my truck in front of the cottage and then walked up to the door. It felt wrong to enter without knocking, as if I were trespassing on someone's home, but a small wooden plaque on the door read "Cullens' Country Flowers" so I knew it was the shop. I pushed the door open, and saw a sweet-faced woman behind the counter.

"May I help you?"

I noticed that she had the same refined way of speaking that Edward had. "Yes, I'd like to buy some flowers for a friend."

The woman smiled. "That's rather sweet of you. What's the occasion?"

"She's in the hospital."

The woman's smile flickered for just the tiniest instant, and I got the impression that she knew exactly who I was talking about, but a moment later her smile was back and I almost wondered if I'd imagined her reaction. "That's a shame. I hope she gets better soon. What would you like to buy for her?"

I shrugged. "Something cheerful. I don't know much about this sort of thing."

"Well, if you don't mind my input, I'd buy her a mixed bouquet of some sort. Something with daisies or chrysanthemums perhaps, as those are brightly colored." She stepped out from behind the counter and led me over to a glass-doored cooler that held various arrangements. "About how much are you wanting to spend?"

I shrugged again. "Ten, fifteen bucks? I know flowers can be a bit pricey."

She slid the cooler door open and pulled out a basket with a plastic bird glued to the handle; the flowers were pink and white. "Something like this will cost you about twelve dollars; is that acceptable?"

"Sure, why not."

"Do you have a preferred color? I have similar arrangements in yellow and blue."

I almost told her to go with yellow, but then I remembered that I was buying the flowers for Amy, not myself. "I think she'll like the pink."

"A nice choice. I'm partial to pink myself." She carried the arrangement over to the counter and then began to ring it up on the cash register. "Did you want us to deliver it, or do you want to do that yourself?"

"I'll take it to her."

"Then your total, with tax, is twelve dollars and seventy-eight cents."

Just as I handed over my debit card, a back door opened and a tiny girl with _very_ short black hair danced in. When I say she danced in, I mean it quite literally. She shut the door behind her, did a couple of complicated steps in place, spun, then flounced over to the woman behind the counter. "Esme, darling, we need to order more roses. They nearly cleaned us out with all the nine-eleven tributes and memorial boquets."

September eleven…Was that today? In all the fuss about Amy I'd forgotten.

"We really need to think about redecorating for Halloween soon, too. It's less than two months away. I'm Alice, by the way," she said, shoving a hand at me. I shook it and found myself giving her my name, even though usually I tended to be a bit wary of new people.

"I'm Bella Swan."

Her eyes widened, and she put her hands on either side of my face, effectively trapping me. She stared at me for a few very intense seconds, then she let me go. "Of course you are. You're _her_. He told me all about you – or, at least he will. That's good."

What the hell was she talking about? Who was _he_? Was it Edward? Did his family know about his late-night visits? Were they conspiring about something?

"And now I've scared you. I'm sorry, Bella, I don't like to scare my friends – and we _are_ going to be friends – but I just get a bit carried away sometimes."

"Yes, you do," said Esme. She handed me my debit card and a receipt. "Sign here, please. If you do, I'll reign Alice in."

"Not necessary, _Mamá_." She said the last word with a wink and a cheeky grin. "I'll make myself scarce; don't want her to get an Alice overload after all. I'm told I'm an acquired taste." Then, with another wink for me, she flounced over to yet another door and disappeared behind it.

I scribbled my signature on the receipt, tried not to fidget too much while I waited for Esme to give me my copy, then grabbed the flowers and bolted the minute I could politely do so. I climbed into my truck, put the flowers in the passenger seat, then just sat there for a moment, stunned.

What. The. Hell. Alice Cullen had to be one of the strangest people I'd ever met, and I grew up in _Phoenix_. She seemed harmless enough, and very polite, but just…weird. And to top off the weird, she was now running across the driveway to the house, yelling for Edward. I didn't have the faintest idea why, and I certainly wasn't sticking around long enough to find out. I started the truck and drove down to the main highway as fast as I could safely navigate the overgrown driveway. After seeing the Cullens, I thought that a visit to the hospital might seem normal in comparison.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: So, I got the percentage for WA sales tax wrong in the last chapter, but I don't care enough to fix it. Pretty sad since I _live_ there. Also, I know I said earlier that Amy wasn't injured. I've since changed my mind.

Chiaro: thanks for the compliments. I'm glad Bella comes off as normal. :)

I'm supposed to be writing another chapter for _Eragon Redux_, not this, but I've got more of an idea of what happens next in this, so you guys get my attention today. Sorry about the "dazzled" reference. I just couldn't resist.

* * *

Chapter 8

I was still a bit shaken when I pulled into the hospital parking lot. I parked near the visitor's entrance, grabbed the basket of flowers and went inside to ask for directions to Amy's room. The nurse at the desk was friendly but very business-like, and she put me more at ease.

I rode the elevator to the correct floor and it opened to show me the most beautiful man I'd ever seen. You think Brad Pitt and Hugh Jackman are pretty men? Think again. This man was…I don't have words for how pretty he was. His hair was blond, and looked a little bit sun streaked – not naturally so, but in the way that tells you a man has a really good stylist. His jacket looked like it had been tailored to fit him exactly, and it hung on him like an expensive blazer rather than a generic lab coat. He had really clear skin, and the tone was perfectly even – like porcelain – and his eyes…A shimmering light brown, like whiskey.

He held out his hand and smiled. I'll admit, I was a bit dazzled.

"I'm Dr. Carlisle Cullen. And you must be Bella."

I froze with my hand half-way outstretched. How did he know that? Had his wife called to say I was on the way to the hospital? And if so, why? Why were these people paying me so much attention? It was starting to get really creepy.

"You look like your dad," he said, and I relaxed again. Of course, Charlie had mentioned that he and the doctor were friends. Charlie must have mentioned that I was coming to live with him. "Are you here to see Amy? Your father mentioned that you were friends," he said before I had a chance to tense up again. Then the elevator door shut behind me with a _ping,_ and I jumped.

What was wrong with me? I was starting to act paranoid.

"Well, we're not really friends," I said quickly, hoping he hadn't noticed my freak-out, "more like acquaintances, but I always thought she seemed like a nice girl."

Dr. Cullen smiled again – he had _really_ straight teeth – and said, "I'm sure she'll appreciate it. Don't expect her to be very alert, though. She's had a very … difficult night." He reached past me to press the elevator call button and, damnit, I felt my heart speed up a bit.

"It's that way," he said, pointing down the hall.

"Huh?" I said stupidly.

He smiled again. "Amy's room."

"Oh! Right. Thank you. I'll … be going now, I guess." Blushing furiously, I speed-walked down the hallway, cursing myself for acting like a pre-pubescent fangirl at a Backstreet Boys concert. What the hell was wrong with me? You'd think I'd never seen an attractive man before.

Well, never one that attractive, I thought as I slowed down and began to read the names posted on the hospital rooms.

I had to backtrack before I found Amy's room – I'd passed it during my speed-walk. The door was pushed mostly shut, but not latched, and I knocked softly before pushing it open. Amy was asleep, curled on her side, and she looked absolutely tiny in that bed. There were scratches on her face, and she twitched in her sleep, as if she were dreaming. I set the flowers on her bedside table as quietly as I could and started to tiptoe back toward the door, when she suddenly sat up and gave a bloodcurdling scream.

I froze.

Amy covered her mouth with her hands and began to shake violently.

"It's okay," I said quietly. I held up my hands to show her I was harmless, and she winced. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'll leave if you want."

"No stay!" she cried and reached out her hand to me. "I d-don't want to b-be alone."

"Do you want me to call a nurse?"

She shook her head. "They'll just sh-shoot me full of more d-drugs."

I crossed the room again and sat in the chair next to her bed.

"Y-you're Isab-bella, right? Officer S-Swan's daughter." Her shivering was making it difficult for her to talk without stammering.

"Yes, I'm Bella. Can I get you anything? Another blanket?"

"P-please."

I searched the room, and finally found another blanket tucked into a corner cupboard. It wasn't the thin, useless blankets that usually come from hospitals, so I assumed that someone, probably Amy's parents, had been by to visit her. I draped the blanket around her shoulders, and by the time I sat down again, her shaking had eased some.

"Nightmare?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah."

"Sorry."

She shrugged in a rather non-committal way, then suddenly turned to face me. "Have they found David yet?"

"David?"

"My boyfriend. We went for a walk and then…"

"It's alright, you don't have to talk about it," I said. What was I supposed to say about her boyfriend? Charlie said he'd been torn apart, but that wasn't the sort of thing I wanted to tell her. But saying they hadn't found him was bad too; it would either worry her more, or cause her to hope unnecessarily. I finally settled for a lie. "I haven't heard anything about David."

"H-How did you know about me?"

"Charlie told me. I was the one who let him know you were missing. Everyone else thought you were playing hooky."

"We were g-going to. We went out in the woods to – well, you know." She blushed. "We were going to call in sick to work the next day and go to the beach. But then we were in the woods and we heard growling, and this _thing_ came from nowhere. It was so fast…" Her voice trailed off, and I stayed silent, waiting to see if she'd speak again. "It slashed my face, and David put himself between me and it…and I can't remember anything for a while. I think I b-blacked out. I woke up for a couple of minutes, and I couldn't see David anywhere, but there was more growling, and I saw a bunch of dogs – really _big_ dogs – and strange people. They were all fighting, and I think the brown-haired one was trying to protect me. He told a red-haired woman, 'He went that way,' and I thought he was telling her to go after David. She left, and the dogs started chasing her and … I can't remember anything else."

Her words gave me chills; I remembered Edward Cullen's words about wolves and about tracking something. He must have been following them. But he hadn't been carrying a gun or anything. Was he crazy as well as weird?

Amy's voice interrupted my thoughts. "Will you tell me if you hear anything about David from your dad?"

"Of course," I lied. "Have you told him any of this? About the wolves and the people in the woods?"

"I don't – " she yawned, " – remember."

I started to tell her that she needed to, and I pulled out my cell phone to call Charlie, but she was asleep already. I made sure the blanket was tucked securely around here and tiptoed out of her room. I called Charlie from the parking lot and told him everything she'd told me – and the things I hadn't told him yet.

As expected, he was furious. "What do you mean, Edward Cullen was skulking around the house again? And why the hell didn't you tell me?"

"Charlie, that's not important, right now. What matters is that he knew there were wolves in the woods, and that he seemed to be tracking them. He knows something, and he might be able to help."

"If it was a wolf attack, and I don't know what else it could be, the department doesn't need some punk teenager's help catching the creature."

I agreed with Charlie on that, but something about Amy's scratches bothered me. "Amy didn't get those marks from a wolf," I said. "They looked more like cat scratches to me."

"What, you want us to have a cougar running loose too, Bells? Don't I have enough to deal with?"

"I don't want there to be one, but Amy said her face got scratched. I don't think a wolf would make marks like that; they attack with teeth, not claws."

Charlie sighed. "You're right, it doesn't quite add up. We'll know more when I get the reports back from the coroner."

"David?"

"Yeah."

"Charlie," I sad tentatively, "Amy doesn't know, yet. She asked me about David while I was there. Someone has to tell her."

"Oh, Christ." I heard his chair squeak through the phone, and I could picture him leaning back in it, feet propped on his desk. "Alright, I'll get someone to tell her, or maybe her parents. It might be better if they broke the news to her."

I shook my head, then realized Charlie couldn't see. "I doubt it. I think they're mostly uninvolved. They didn't call you when she didn't go home last night, and they didn't stay at the hospital after they visited this morning. Besides, Amy's the type to need proof. It's more proof-like if it comes from the guy in the uniform."

"Alright, fine, I'll do it. I'll need to see if I can take her statement anyway. Everything you gave me is great, but I need to hear it from her too.

"What are you doing the rest of today?" He tried for casual, but didn't quite manage it.

"I'm going to go see Jake."

"Have fun."

I could tell from the relief in his voice that Charlie was glad I was going out of town. But I wasn't going to the reservation to escape this situation with Amy and the whatever-it-was that had attacked her – I was going to get more involved. Jake had made me promise to tell him when I knew anything more about Amy, and I was going to make good on that promise. I was also going to make him tell me what was going on with him, and what the hell that had to do with Amy and the Cullens. It was all connected somehow, I was sure of it; Jake's time of secret-keeping was over.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: So...This is much later than I'd planned. But it's done! And it was fun! I love writing arguments. I'll try and get the next installment out in less than a month, but no promises. I'm busy up through Labor Day (yay friends from out of town!), and the students will be getting back to school shortly after that, so work will actually be busy for a while. So, yes. Jake and Bella, having an argument.

Also, I don't own the characters from _Twilight_, blah, blah, blah.

* * *

Chapter 9

My truck tore down the highway to La Push, the ridiculous bow I'd left on the hood flapping in the breeze. It only took me twenty minutes to get to the reservation, rather than the thirty it would have taken had I followed speed limits. The truck's engine started to whine when I turned from Highway 101 onto 110, but I didn't let up on the accelerator. It maxed out at 70 miles an hour, and I kept it floored all the way to the reservation. I was being reckless, I knew. This was a rural highway, it wasn't safe to drive at freeway speeds, but I didn't care. I was pissed. Jake knew something, I was positive he did, and he was keeping it from me. Worse, he was keeping it from Charlie. Not only was Jake being a jackass, he was obstructing justice.

La Push is tiny; there are only half-a-dozen mapped streets, and I think everyone who lived there saw me speed through them on the way to Jake's house. I slammed on my brakes in his driveway, sliding to a stop in a cloud of dust and gravel. The poor bedraggled bow sagged as if expressing relief that I had finally stopped the truck.

I jumped out of the cab, slammed the door behind me, and stalked into the house. Jake and Billy never kept the door locked, a habit Jake's older sister Rachel had tried to train them out of before she left for college. Apparently, it hadn't worked.

"Hello, Bella," said a voice to my right. I whirled, then relaxed when I realized it was just Billy. He was sitting on the couch watching TV, his empty wheelchair stashed in a corner of the living room. Such a waste; if only he'd gone to see Dr. Cullen.

"Hey Billy. Sorry to burst in like this."

He laughed. "Looks like you got a bone to pick with Jacob."

"I might have a whole skeleton to pick with Jacob."

"Get on with it, then. He's in the shop." He gestured with a thumb toward the yard behind the house.

"Thanks." I walked through the house, noting how clean it was. It probably wouldn't have satisfied Rachel's perfectionism, but it meant that Jake was keeping up with the household chores as well as running Black's Automotive. I felt most of my anger drain away as I realized just how difficult this past year must have been for Jake – dropping out of school, having to take care of his dad; those were things most seventeen-year-olds never even had to think about.

I walked out the back door and toward the shed Jake used for his private repair shop. The large garage door in front was closed, but the side door was cracked. It squeaked as I pulled it open enough to slip inside, but Jake had Nickleback playing so loud that I didn't think he heard it.

I had to stand there for a few moments to let my eyes adjust to the dim light, and then I could see a long pair of denim-clad legs sticking out from underneath a Dodge pickup. His feet were bare which wouldn't have been unusual – except that we were in the shop. Even Jake didn't go barefoot in the shop. It wasn't safe.

I walked over and kicked his nearest ankle. "Get out here, you asshole," I yelled over the music. He wiggled his toes to let me know he'd heard me, and I stepped back and leaned against the wall. I folded my arms across my chest and glared at the bits of him I could see.

He didn't make me wait long. Less than a minute later, he slid out from under the truck, then climbed up into the cab and turned the key in the ignition, shutting off the radio. The sudden silence seemed unnatural, and emphasized the buzzing of the fluorescent lights overhead. Jake picked up a rag that was draped through the truck's window and began carefully wiping his hands on it to remove the worst of the grease.

He was stalling now, and I wasn't sure whether it was because he didn't want to fight or because he did, but either way, I was getting angrier by the minute. I opened my mouth to start yelling, but then he turned and grinned at me.

Jake isn't the handsomest guy in the world, but he has a very charming smile – and you can't trust it. It's the proverbial cat-that-ate-the-canary smile, only with Jake, the cat not only ate the canary, but convinced you to get it out of the cage for him first, and by the time you realized what you did, both cat and canary were gone and you couldn't quite remember why.

I hated that grin. It had never done anything but cause trouble. The first time I got drunk, it was because Jake wanted to try beer when we were twelve, and so he smiled at me. I swiped a six-pack from Charlie's fridge and we took it out to our spot and split it. I was sick that night and all the next day, but Jake only had a mild headache, and he laughed at me.

He'd also used that grin when we were fifteen to convince me to drive Charlie's squad car through town with the lights and siren on. We both got grounded for that one.

And now he was doing it again, and dammit, I was _not_ going to look. I lowered my eyes to the floor and deepened my scowl.

"Still pissed, huh?" he said, as though he were completely unconcerned.

"A bit, yeah." But I could, and probably would, yell at him later. "They found Amy Kim."

I heard a dull thunk, then something metallic clattering on the floor, followed by some rather creative swearing. I looked up, and saw him clutching at one foot, while a wrench sat on the floor by the other, and smiled to myself. Suddenly feeling a bit more cheerful, I smirked and went to steal a Coke from the mini-fridge by the door.

"Where'd they find her?" Jake limped over to me and sat on top of the fridge.

I shrugged as I popped the top on the can and took a drink. "Somewhere in the woods – Charlie didn't say."

"Is she alright?"

"As well as can be expected." I was silent for a moment while I tried to decide how much to tell Jake, and then decided, screw it. He's Jake; I tell him everything. "She's not really hurt, just traumatized. But her boyfriend was apparently mutilated. She said something about a bunch of large dogs and a couple of people. I couldn't make sense of most of it, but Charlie thinks she got attacked by wolves." Jake blinked and looked away. "I don't think it was wolves, though."

"You don't?" He looked back, fear and…was it hope?....shining in his eyes.

"No, I don't. The scratches on her face were all wrong for it to be wolves, and besides, there aren't supposed to _be_ wolves this far west. I told Charlie I thought it was a big cat of some sort.

"Although, that doesn't explain why Amy says she saw wolves, and a couple of people, but no cat." I took another drink.

"It wasn't the wolves," Jake said quickly. "I can swear to it. I know I can't prove it, and swearing doesn't do much good without proof, but it wasn't them."

I cocked my head to the side. "How do you know?"

"Well…like you said, the scratches were all wrong."

"You haven't seen the scratches," I pointed out.

"Wolves don't do that, though. They attack the flank or the shoulder."

I drained the last of the Coke. "Maybe they were going for the shoulder and missed."

"No, they weren't! They weren't even there until –" He shut his mouth and looked away.

"Until what?"

He didn't respond.

"Until _what_, Jake?"

He looked back at me. "I can't say."

"Bullshit!" I dropped my empty Coke can and crushed it with my shoe. "Something's going on, Jake, and you know what it is. Either you tell me, or I'll tell Charlie to haul your ass in for questioning."

"You wouldn't do that," he said, but his voice was hesitant, as if he wasn't sure whether I'd actually do it or not.

"I would. It's obstruction of justice. Besides, you didn't see her afterward."

Thinking about Amy made me feel cold all of a sudden, and I hugged myself. Jake put his hands on my arms, rubbing to work warmth back into them, and even through the light cotton of my shirt sleeves, I could feel his body heat. I put a hand on his forehead – it was feverish, but he wasn't clammy like he would have been if he were sick. Even so…

"Are you sure you're alright? You feel like you've got a temperature of a hundred and seven."

He shrugged. "I might. It's no big deal."

"No big deal! Jake, if you've got a fever that high, you need to go to the hospital. Dr. Cullen works ER, he'll take care – "

Jake instantly pulled away, then slid off the fridge to put even more distance between us. "_No!_ I'm not going anywhere near Cullen."

"Why not? Jake, he's a good doctor. He's taking care of Amy."

"He'd better be; it's his mess."

"_What?_"

He shook his head. "Never mind."

I was instantly pissed again. I'd told him about Amy, when doing so was probably illegal, because he'd asked me to. But he wasn't willing to tell me anything in return? What the hell was with that?

"Don't blow me off." I moved the six inches it took to put me toe-to-toe with him. He towered over me by more than a foot, so we probably looked pretty ridiculous, me glaring up at him, and him looking over my head at something on the wall so he didn't have to meet my gaze.

"Look," I snapped. "It's one thing for you and your little boyfriend to have some sort of secret club."

"Seth's not my – "

"But your silence on this is going to get people killed. People have already been killed." I grabbed his upper arms in my hands and tried to shake him. I failed, but I continued my lecture. "Jake, you should have seen her, this morning. She woke up _screaming_. If you know something, you have to tell me – or at least tell Charlie."

He shook his head. "Bella, I can't. I told you, I'm involved in stuff here at the rez – "

"I don't give a damn what's going on here at the reservation! I give a damn that you're willing to let a killer – even a non-human killer – go free." I stepped around Jake toward the door. "You've changed," I said over my shoulder. "I don't like it."

I pushed the door open and was about to step through when I felt the heat of his hand on my arm.

"Wait, Bells."

I turned, but didn't say anything.

Jake nervously ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I do know what's going on, but believe me, I'm keeping more people safe by staying silent than by telling."

"And how does that work?"

"Because the police aren't prepared to deal with the truth! They have no idea what's out there, and neither do you. Besides, nobody would believe the truth if I told it."

"I would."

He gave me a skeptical look. "Do you believe in magic?"

"'In a young girl's heart?'" I quipped.

"See, I knew it." He stalked away, and I absently noticed that he wasn't limping anymore. "Even you wouldn't believe me if I told you what's really going on."

I shrugged. "So try me. The worst that can happen is I'll think you're crazy."

"Some days I think I might be." He pointed at the mini-fridge. "You may want to sit down for this."


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: So, I was out of town this weekend. Fortunately, I pre-wrote this chapter so I just had to do some last-minute editing.

For those that are wondering, yes, I will be getting back to Edward (probably in the next chapter). Yes, this is an Edward/Bella story. But Edward's behavior has been pretty creepy so far, so it's going to take some time for Bella to trust him.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or the characters, etc.

* * *

Chapter 10

"How much of our creation myth do you know?"

I leaned back against the wall and pulled my feet up on top of the fridge. "Only what you've told me. When the world was being created, Qwerty – "

Jake laughed. "I think you mean Q'waeti'."

"Yeah, him. He went around the world making the various tribes, but when got to Quileute land there were no people, so he turned a pair of wolves into the first Quileutes and said only the chief could have more than one wife."

"That's pretty close." He took a deep breath, as if bracing himself to jump into really cold water. "The part that I never told you – that I never believed until last year – is that it's true."

My jaw dropped.

"Yeah, that was sort of my reaction."

I shook my head. "No, I don't think we're having the same reaction. You seem to have bought into it. I'm just suddenly thinking that you're crazy."

He sighed, more in resignation than in hurt, and said, "What if I could prove it?"

"Even if you could, what does some old legend have to do with the thing that attacked Amy?"

"It's got everything to do with it. Come on." He grabbed my wrist and pulled me back towards the door. "I'm going to regret this. Sam's going to kick my ass from here to Chehalis for what I'm about to do – I'll be breaking a ton of laws – but right now I don't care."

I allowed him to pull me outside. "Where are we going?"

"The woods."

I dug my heels in at that. "There's something murderous running around in the woods and _you want to take me there_? Charlie would kill me. And then he'd kill you. Twice over."

"You're right; I wasn't thinking." He let go of my wrist. "Alright, we'll do it here."

"Do what? Jake, you're acting really weird."

"I'm about to act even weirder." He slowly backed away from me, until we were standing about ten yards apart. "I promise, I won't hurt you."

Hurt me? Of course he wouldn't hurt me. This was Jake, my best friend whom I'd known for pretty much forever, and he didn't have a violent bone in his body. In fact, he was distinctly anti-confrontational with anyone who wasn't me or Rachel. He was –

Oh. My. God.

One moment, he'd been standing there, just Jake. And then he was gone and there was a wolf standing there. A huge, russet-furred, man-sized wolf.

My knees gave way and I sank to the ground. I almost didn't believe it. It had happened so quickly and seamlessly (barely an instant to even register the change) that I could trick myself into believing it was an illusion. Magicians did this sort of thing on stage all the time, didn't they? They could make people disappear or turn into things they weren't, and turn back again.

But then the wolf grinned. It was that same canary-eating-cat grin I'd learned to both love and hate, and I knew it was Jake. No other creature on earth could be that smug.

The wolf – Jake – padded over to me, and then lay down so that even on my knees I was taller than him. He put his head in my lap and looked up at me. His ears were back, as if he were worried I would shove him away or, worse, be afraid if him.

Honestly, I was a little bit. He was _huge_. He was a six-and-a-half-foot tall man, and he hadn't gotten any smaller as a wolf – he was just down on all fours now. It wasn't that I thought he would hurt me, but I was suddenly very aware that he could. In order to convince him, and myself, that I wasn't actually afraid, I reached out and rubbed his head between the ears. He started grinning again, and when I stopped, he nudged my hand with his nose.

I shook my head. "Just because you're cuter like this, doesn't mean I'm going to fawn over you." He sighed, and dropped his head back in my lap. "Turn human again; I want to have a real conversation."

He huffed, but stood and backed away a few paces. Moments later, he was Jake again and he came to sit on the ground across from me.

"Wow," I said.

"Yeah."

"When?"

"Last year, not long after you went back to Arizona. It's why my body temperature is so high now. It happens to most of us sometime between the ages of twelve and sixteen."

"Wow," I said again. "Who else knows?"

"Dad and a few of the guys."

I tried not to be hurt that he'd told them before he told me, but then I remembered that I'd been gone all year. Of course, he'd needed to confide in people who could actually be there for him. "How'd they take it?"

He shrugged. "Fine."

"So, they're okay with the fact that you can turn into a wolf, but they were freaked out that you're gay?"

"Not all of them were freaked. Besides, turning into a wolf isn't exactly out of the norm around here. Being gay…" He shrugged again.

"Wait, you're saying there are more of you? More werewolves, or whatever?"

"We're not werewolves; that full moon and silver stuff isn't true for us. We're more like skinwalkers, but that's not completely correct either, because we don't need the skin of an animal to phase."

"Phase?"

"Turn into a wolf."

"So what are you then?"

He shrugged again. "Shapeshifters. We call ourselves _kwoli_. It's Quileute for 'wolf,'" he explained at my blank look.

I nodded. Okay, I could deal with this. My best friend could turn into a wolf. I got that. I'd seen it. He wasn't a vicious animal in wolf form, so it stood to reason that the others, whoever they were, were the same way. Non-violent. Sane.

"Who else can do this?"

"Sam. Quil and Embry. Seth and Leah. A few others. Sam's our leader."

"Which explains why you shut up so quickly when Seth mentioned him last night." He nodded. "I just don't understand why you didn't know sooner. I mean, if this is a common thing, why doesn't everyone in the tribe know about it?"

"They do."

I narrowed my eyes. "And everything you used to say about the old legends being a load of crap?"

Jake became suddenly interested in tearing tufts of grass out by their roots.

"You lied," I said. He made a movement that was somewhere between a nod and a shrug. I wanted to be angry that he'd been lying, not just since this weekend, but our whole lives. But I couldn't. It was something he was supposed to keep secret, and loyalty to the tribe and his family came first. That's how it was supposed to be.

"What does all this have to do with Amy Kim?"

Jake looked up, and I could see he was relieved that I wasn't going to be angry at him for keeping his secret. He reached out and squeezed my hand. I squeezed back, and that was the end of it.

"Are you sure you want to know how this connects to Amy?" he said. "Because, believe me, it's a lot weirder than a group of shapeshifting Indians. It's not too late to back out."

"I want to know, but I really think you should be telling Charlie."

"No!" His voice was sharp. "It's you, or nobody. And you can't tell your dad."

I knew I should say no. I should go straight home and tell Charlie to haul Jake into the station. But seventeen summers of friendship, and the profound trust he'd just shown by telling me his secret, overrode civic duty.

"Tell me."

"Alright, but you can't tell anyone I told you. I'm going to be in enough trouble as it is.

"They're vampires." He said it so quickly that I almost didn't understand him.

I frowned. "What?"

"The Cullens: they're vampires."

At that I lay back on the grass and laughed until I cried.

"What's so funny?" I could tell by Jake's tone of voice that he was utterly bewildered.

"Vampires!" I choked out, and continued laughing. My stomach muscles were starting to get sore.

"I don't get it."

"I'm sorry." I pushed myself up to my elbows and wiped my eyes. "It's just that your dad hates them. And then I find out you're a werewolf – "

"Shapeshifter."

" – and you explain it by saying they're _vampires_."

"So?"

"It's just – " I snorted, then tried again. "Vampires and wolves. It's one of the biggest clichés ever."

"Actually, true love and magic jewelry are the biggest clichés ever. Besides, it's not like we hate them on principle. We just don't trust them."

"Why not?"

"They're _vampires_!" He sounded exasperated, as if he were trying to teach a small child something basic that it was refusing to learn, like why two-plus-two was four, or that no matter how many times it dropped a penny off the Space Needle, the coin was always going to drop straight down.

I flopped back down and stared up at the sky. It was mostly clear, but I could see a few gray clouds off in the distance, and I wondered if we were going to get rain that night.

"They can't be vampires," I said, "because I've seen them. I got Amy's flowers at Esme Cullen's flower shop, and then I saw Dr. Cullen at the hospital. Today. During the daytime. And they weren't in coffins. In fact, one of them actually went outside – _and it was sunny_."

"So?"

I sat up again. "Vampires don't go out in daylight, everybody knows that. They burst into flames, or melt or something."

"I think you've been watching too much _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_. They don't go out in daylight much – I've heard it makes them ill if they're in it for too long – but they don't die instantly when they do."

I snorted.

Jake threw up his hands. "Fine, don't believe me, but I'm telling the truth. Think about it for a few minutes and it'll make sense. It's why Dr. Cullen usually works nights and why the 'kids–'" he made airquotes with his fingers, "–pretend to be homeschooled or have artsy jobs that let them work from home."

I held up a finger. "Charlie said one of them is a coach at the junior high."

"And I bet if you check it out, he coaches basketball, or something that lets him work in the gym." He frowned. "Why is this so much harder to believe than me being _kwoli_?"

"Well, one, you _showed _me." I gestured toward where he'd phased. "Two, you have a legend about being the descendents of wolves. There's precedent."

He shrugged. "I'm sure they have their own legends about where they came from. Bells, it may be hard for you to believe, but you need to."

"Why?"

"Because it was a vampire that attacked Amy Kim."

I suddenly remembered what he said about Amy Kim being Dr. Cullen's mess to clean up. "Are you blaming the doctor for what happened to Amy?" I demanded. "Because I met him today, and that's not even remotely possible. He couldn't be a doctor and do something like that."

"He probably didn't do it," said Jake, "but it's his fault it happened."

"Explain."

Jake sighed. "Dr. Cullen is the leader of his group of vampires – a coven, I think they call it. I don't know all the details, but from what Sam has said, they have some sort of law against eating humans. I think they're trying to learn to integrate with society or something. Anyway, each coven leader is responsible for his subjects; it's his job to keep them in line so they don't hurt anyone, but the doctor hasn't been doing his job well enough.

"Amy isn't the first one – she's just the first one from Forks."

I leaned forward, my chin in my hand and my elbows on my knees. "How do you know?"

"Because Sam's had us following them ever since they moved here. It was alright at first; we thought they were going to keep to themselves and behave. But they've got a coven member they can't seem to control. We've tried to figure out which one it is, but we can't. We never actually catch it making trouble, and when something does happen, by the time we get there, the whole coven has been there covering up the scent and disposing of the body.

"It was close with Amy. I wasn't there, but Quil and Embry were, and they saw which ones showed up to clean up the mess, so we've narrowed it down quite a bit.

"And now you see why I can't tell your dad – or why it wouldn't do any good if I did."

I stood and brushed off my jeans. "No, I don't see. Vampires can be killed, I know they can."

Jake stood too and watched me as I began to pace. "Of course they can be killed, but what human is fast or strong enough to do it? The sunlight thing may be a myth, but their strength and speed aren't."

I froze as I remembered the way Edward Cullen had so easily appeared and disappeared, seeming to melt into the darkness, disappearing so completely into the woods that it was like he'd never been there. "That night…he was tracking her that night."

"What?" It was Jake's turn to be confused.

"The night I got into town, when you came to see me. I met Edward, remember? He said he was tracking something. That was the night Amy disappeared. He was tracking her." I stepped forward and grabbed Jake's shirt. "And then last night, he came back. He warned me to stay out of the woods. He said something about wolves. He was trying to tell me not to trust you. That bastard!"

Jake lowered his eyebrows. "Did he actually tell you to stay away from me?"

I frowned and replayed the conversation over in my mind. "No. Not specifically. But he came snooping around the house once he realized you and I were friends. He thought I already knew you're a shapeshifter. He said he could tell that the wolves been there – that their stench was everywhere. Sorry," I said when Jake winced. "His words, not mine. The point is, he wanted me to be careful around you guys. I'm not sure whether he really meant it, or was just trying to scare me so that I'd blame you if I chanced onto the supernatural stuff."

Jake shook his head. "Either way, I don't trust him."

"Neither do I."

I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and checked the time. "I'd better go. Charlie should be home soon, and he'll worry if I'm not there."

"You'll be careful, right?"

"Of course."

"Don't invite anybody in the house that you don't know."

I snickered. "Now who's been watching too much _Buffy_?"

He didn't look the slightest bit abashed. "Better safe than sorry. Come on, I'll walk you to your truck." He extended an arm, and I moved closer so he could wrap it around my shoulders and put my arm around his waist. Instantly I was too warm, but I didn't pull away. It was nice to know that, despite all the changes the past year had brought, Jake was still pretty much the same guy he'd always been – even if he was a little hairier on occasion.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: So, as promised, this chapter hails the return of Edward. Edward is still a bit of a creeper, but it will get better eventually. Also, I completely adore Alice. Ahem. Also, I changed the rating on this to M. There's a lot more swearing than I had originally planned.

I don't own any of these characters, as much as I'd love to have full creative rights to Alice and Jasper; they all belong to Stephenie Meyer, etc.

* * *

Chapter 11

I got almost no sleep that night. As Jake had pointed out, virtually everything I knew about vampires came from watching re-runs of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_, and clearly the Cullens didn't follow Joss Whedon's rules. After all, I'd seen Alice Cullen _walk outside in daylight_. I still couldn't get over that. If they could walk in daylight, what else could they do? Could they turn into bats or wolves or mist? Did they have a vamp-face like Angel and Spike? What limitations did they have? Did they have any? And what about repelling them? Should I start wearing a cross everywhere, or would it be useless because I wasn't actually a Christian? What about holy water and wooden stakes?

I didn't know, and that scared the shit out of me. I wanted to go sleep in Charlie's bed, like when I was five and I had nightmares all the time. But then he'd ask what was wrong and I couldn't tell him. I'd promised Jake. And even if I did tell Charlie, he'd never believe me. At best he'd send me in for counseling of some sort – and he'd call my mother. The last thing I wanted was to disturb Mom's newlywed bliss. It would defeat the whole purpose of me moving up here – and then she'd fly up from Florida and try to take me back with her which would be awkward for everyone.

No, I couldn't tell Charlie anything was wrong.

Something scraped against my window and I fought to stifle a shriek. I sat upright in bed, clutching the covers to my chin, trying to decide whether I wanted to bound to the window and make sure it was locked or just stay where I was and hope that whatever was outside couldn't see me.

The scraping came again, like nails on a chalkboard. "Oh, sweet Jesus!" I pulled my knees up to my chin as well, so I was just a ball under the covers. Shadows moved on the wall across from my bed, and I covered my mouth to stop a scream before I realized it was just the shadow of the tree outside my window. I sagged with relief, and flopped back onto my pillow. What an idiot. Of course, the scraping was the branches of the tree blowing against my window. There was nothing out there waiting to sneak inside the moment I fell asleep.

As far as I could tell.

The hell with it. I flung the covers aside and leapt across the room, fingers scrabbling at the window. It was latched, thank God, and someone would have to be superhumanly strong to shove it open from the outside.

Well, vampires _were_ superhumanly strong, according to Jake. Still, I'd hear it if one of them broke in. But they were also superhumanly fast. Would I have time to run or even scream?

But then I remembered what Jake had said about vampires attempting to integrate. Surely they wouldn't be running around at night eating people if they were trying to integrate. Jake _had_ said that it was against vampire law to eat humans.

But he'd also said the wolves didn't trust them.

And there was still the problem of the Cullens' rogue vampire. It obviously hadn't gotten the memo about integration.

I crawled back under the covers and pulled them up to my chin again. I wanted to pull them up over my head, but I was afraid they'd muffle any sounds I might need to hear.

So I lay there burrowed as far under the covers as I dared, with my eyes squeezed tightly shut, employing the childhood logic which said the monsters couldn't see me if I couldn't see them.

It must have worked, because when I opened my eyes again, daylight was streaming through my window, and the only thought in my head was, _bright_. I rolled over so I was facing away from the window and prepared to go back to sleep, but Charlie started banging on my bedroom door.

"Bells, school! It's almost seven-thirty; you're going to be late."

"Shit!" I flung the covers aside and leapt out of bed. "Why aren't you at work?" I yelled through the door as I tried to take off my pajamas and put on school clothes all at the same time.

"Making sure you get to school on time!"

I yanked the door open and pounded down the stairs. I, quite literally, ran into Charlie in the kitchen. "Whoa, Bells, coffee!" he said, holding a full mug out at arm's length so it wouldn't spill on either of us.

"Sorry!" I got a bowl out of the cupboard and fished around in the pantry for a box of cold cereal. "So, you're going to be late in order to make sure I'm on time?"

"I took the morning off." He finished what was left of his coffee and put the empty mug in the sink. I poured my cereal and went to the fridge for milk. "You have plans for after school?"

"Not yet. Are we out of milk?"

"Oh, damn, honey, I'm sorry. I used the last of it in my coffee."

I shut the fridge door. "It's fine. I've got to go." A glance at my watch told me I had just enough time to drive to school and find my homeroom. "See you tonight; thanks for waking me up." I rushed forward, kissed Charlie on the cheek, grabbed my backpack and ran out the door.

I walked into the school building just as the first bell rang. It took a few minutes to find the administrative office, and by the time I got my schedule the second bell had already rung. Still, I figured they'd give me a break since I was the new girl. Spending every summer here didn't mean I had any idea how to navigate the school.

It seemed I was correct. The teacher gave me a dirty look when I tried to slip in unobtrusively, but it's never possible to slip in unobtrusively when twenty-five or more people are staring at you. I caught Jessica's eye as I made my way to an empty desk toward the back of the room. She jerked her chin toward the teacher and rolled her eyes. I grinned, then sat down and pretended I was paying attention.

The day was uneventful overall. Biology was boring, and I was completely confused in pre-calculus, but the rest of the day went pretty well. I had lunch with Jessica and Angela and their guys, and Jessica confirmed plans for the triple-date movie night. "This weekend work for everyone?" she asked.

"I'll have to call Jake," I said, "but this weekend should be fine for me."

"Jake?" said Angela in surprise. "Do you mean Jacob Black?"

"Yeah, why?"

She shrugged. "Nothing." But I could tell by the expression on her face that she was thinking about something.

"You and Jacob?" said Jess. She leaned her elbows on the table. "I knew it was only a matter of time."

Mike snorted. "For all the good it'll do her. Her boyfriend's a fairy," he said at Jessica's confused look.

I started to snap at him, but Ben spoke up before I could. "So what? Don't be an asshole, Mike. Jacob's cool."

I frowned. "How did you guys know?"

"We go hang out at La Push Beach on weekends when the weather's good," said Ben. "Sam let it slip."

"I'll bet he did," I muttered, then spoke at a normal tone. "Yeah, I invited Jake to come to the movie with us. Anyone got a problem with that?" I directed it at the table as a whole, but my gaze was focused mostly on Mike. He squirmed a little bit, but made no objections.

Jessica frowned. "Are you sure, Bella? We could invite a real guy, one of Mike's friends or something."

"Jake _is_ a real guy."

She sighed. "Sorry. You know what I meant, though. A guy you actually have a chance of hooking up with."

"I don't want a set-up, Jess. Besides, I already invited Jake."

"Good," said Angela. "He seems like a nice guy, but you always keep him all to yourself." The tone of her voice let everyone know that the subject was now off-limits. I shot her a grateful look, then asked how yesterday's church service had gone. The conversation drifted from there to morning classes to projections for the school year and eventually circled back around to which movie we were going to watch that weekend. Jessica was still gunning for the Reese Witherspoon flick, but the guys were making objections. The bell rang before they had decided, and we all went our separate ways for class. Nothing terribly exciting happened for the rest of the day.

Tuesday, my birthday, was pretty much like Monday, except that I wasn't late for classes. I went through the day, argued against the chick-flick at lunch (we still hadn't come to a decision), and then wandered around town after school, because Jess had made it clear that if I entered my house before she called with the all-clear, she was going to make the rest of my year a living nightmare. I wasn't quite sure what she had in mind, or that she could actually make good on her threat, but I went to town anyway.

I spent about an hour window-shopping, them Mom called to wish me happy birthday. We chatted about random stuff: how classes were going, what Mom liked best about Florida (besides Phil, who was mostly pretty cool). She said she'd seen dolphins at the beach over the weekend, and I have to admit, I was a little bit jealous.

"I miss you so much already," she said. "I can't believe I agreed to let you go live with your father."

I sighed. We'd been over this a hundred times over the summer. "I told you, Mom, if I had to transfer to a new school, coming up here with Charlie makes more sense. I actually have friends here in Forks. Besides, as a Washington resident, I'll get reduced tuition at U-Dub." I'd heard that the University of Washington had a good literature program.

"You're right," Mom said. "I just miss you."

"I miss you too. I'll come for Thanksgiving or Christmas, okay?" Before she had a chance to answer, my phone beeped in my ear. "Hey, Mom? I gotta go. Jess is calling through."

Mom said goodbye, and I took Jess' call. It was just a short, "Okay, it's time," and then she hung up on me. I rolled my eyes a little, but was mostly amused.

When I pulled my truck into the driveway I nearly reversed and drove somewhere, anywhere, else. The small party that Jessica had promised would be fifteen people at most was…God, I don't even know how big. All the windows and doors were open, music was blaring, and I'm pretty sure that the only reason there wasn't a keg in the kitchen was that it was Charlie's house and they knew they'd all get arrested. I pushed my way inside, stifling my annoyance that about half the people in the living room probably didn't even know who I was; I certainly had no clue who _they_ were.

I was going to kill Jess, if I could just figure out where the hell she was. I was standing at the foot of the stairs, trying to push my way up to my room, when I looked over into the kitchen and saw her. Not Jess.

Alice Cullen.

I froze, unable to look away from her. Her short hair was stylishly mussed, and comparing her clothing to Jessica's, I guessed it was stylish. She was leaning against a blond-haired guy and laughing at something that someone had said. She looked so _normal_. I just couldn't believe that she could be a vampire. There was no trace of fangs, no predatory gaze, nothing. She looked like any other girl in her late teens.

Almost as if she sensed me staring, her laughter died and she turned her head so that our gazes locked. And then her face lit up as she smiled. "Bella!" She pushed away from the blond guy and walked toward me as if there wasn't a crowd separating us. I wasn't sure if she was just better at making her way through than I was, or if people were stepping out of her way at the last minute, but moments later she was standing just in front of me.

God she was tiny – inches shorter than me. It was hard to believe that anyone that small had the potential to be dangerous. Still, I was wary and kept a good twelve inches of space between us.

"I just wanted to come and wish you a happy birthday. Eighteen, right? I guess you can vote now, and smoke too but I wouldn't recommend it." She winked at me, then grabbed my hand. "Come on, I have some people I want you to meet."

I wanted to protest; my brain was telling me not to follow this girl anywhere. Her hand was cold in mine and I realized that Jake was right – he had to be. Only being dead – or, at least, not alive – could make someone's skin that cold.

But even as I told myself that following her was stupid, I allowed her to lead me into the kitchen. After all, it was my kitchen, and there were a bazillion people in the house. It wasn't like anything could happen without them noticing.

I had been so preoccupied that I hadn't realized Alice had stopped moving and I walked into her from behind. She steadied me with a surprisingly strong grip, then pointed me at a group of people I didn't know – and one I did.

"This is my hu — Jasper," she said, pointing at the blond guy she'd been snuggling with. He inclined his head and said "Hello" in a voice softened by a Southern accent. She then pointed to a muscular dark-haired guy. "This is Emmett." He smiled but didn't say anything. "And I think you've already met Edward."

I felt a chill run down my spine as our eyes met.

"We're acquainted, yes," Edward said. "Have you been watching out for those wolves like I told you to?"

"I have," I said coldly. "It seems I was already more familiar with them than I realized. They're much like dogs – a girl's best friend, and all."

Something flickered in Edward's eyes, but I couldn't read what it was. Either he was surprised that I'd caught on so quickly, or pissed that I was being defiant. And he could suck it up. Jake was here first. And Jake didn't have a history of eating people.

"Bells, hey! You're almost impossible to…"

Speak of the devil.

I turned to face the kitchen doorway, and before I could stop him, Jake pushed his way through, his words dying on his lips the moment he saw who I was talking to.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded once he got over his initial shock.

"Oh, it's alright! Jessica invited us; well, me mostly, but she said I could bring the family," Alice said in a cheerful tone of voice that almost made me believe that it was alright for Jake and the Cullens to be in the same room together. We'd talk and come to the realization that everything had been a misunderstanding.

It was Emmett who brought me back to my senses. "Looks like someone's got herself a watchdog," he said with a laugh. "Rosalie will be sorry she missed this."

"Emmett, stop it!" said Alice in an undertone. "We're guests in Bella's home."

"And you've worn out your welcome," Jake said firmly. "I'm going to have to ask you all to leave now." He bared his teeth to make it clear that he wasn't actually asking.

Alice's shoulders slumped, and I suddenly felt bad. She did seem like a nice girl. Jasper, with a completely blank expression on his face, put an arm around Alice's waist. Emmett was still chuckling to himself, and Edward – Edward was looking at me as if I were a specimen to study under a microscope.

"What?" I snapped.

"I'm just surprised," he said. "I didn't figure you for the type to let a guy make all your decisions for you."

"Jake's not just a guy, he's family. Besides, I trust his judgment more than my own in certain circumstances."

He cocked his head to one side. "Really? And why is that?"

"Because you're – "

Then Edward smiled at me. Really smiled, so that it reached his eyes and I suddenly had no idea what I'd been about to say.

Beautiful. I wanted to say he was beautiful, even though I knew it wasn't true. He wasn't ugly, of course. None of the Cullens were so far. But he wasn't beautiful. Beautiful was for people like Carlisle. Edward was merely handsome, but looking into his eyes, I suddenly found him beautiful, even though I knew he wasn't.

"Edward!" whispered somebody, and it took a moment for me to realize it wasn't me. A moment later, I noticed that Jake's hands were tight on my shoulders, restraining me. I looked up at Edward again and he was closer than I'd realized – much too close. It wasn't until Jake pulled me backwards that I saw I'd moved towards Edward rather than the other way around.

"We should probably go." Jasper said, his tone of voice just as unreadable as his facial expression. He took a firm grip on Edward's arm; Edward glared at him. Alice darted forward so fast that I didn't actually see her move. She grabbed my hand and said, "It was nice to see you again." Then she squeezed my hand and my eyes widened as I realized she'd passed me a note. As she slipped her hand out of my grasp I curled my fingers around the note so Jake wouldn't see it. Then she walked past me and into the crowd in the living room. Emmett, still snickering, followed on her heels. Jasper and Edward left last, Jasper still pulling Edward along by his arm like a naughty child. The comparison made me laugh, and Edward, as if he knew what I was thinking, jerked away from Jasper as they entered the living room. They walked through the crush of people as if the house were empty and disappeared out the front door.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: So, it's been a lot longer than I intended between updates. I got a bit side-tracked by a Marauder's era HP project I started over at Livejournal. I'll try and be better in the future. Anyway, this chapter introduces Leah. I decided that since I'm not using imprinting, there's no reason for Leah to not still be with Sam. And I adore Seth. He and Alice are my favorite characters, so I tried to make them a lot of fun (I'm also having to fight the urge to ship Seth and Jake, because Seth is waaaay too young for him).

I don't own the _Twilight_ characters, and am not seeking a profit, etc.

* * *

Chapter 12

Jake didn't relax his grip on my shoulders until he was sure the Cullens were gone. "Well, so much for not inviting them into the house," he muttered, then turned to face me. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

He frowned as he studied me, but apparently I didn't look any different than normal, because he eventually shrugged. "You look alright. I thought for a minute there that Cullen had bewitched you."

I put my hands in my pockets so I could hide Alice's note. "Can they do that?"

He shrugged. "I've heard stories, but I don't know for sure." We were both silent for a moment, then Jake said, "Some party, eh?"

I laughed, but it was a bit forced. "If Jess wanted to make this my most memorable birthday, she certainly succeeded."

"You want me to get rid of people?"

I thought about saying yes, but I shook my head. "They're not hurting anything. It's a school night, so they'll leave at a reasonable hour. I hope. I think I'll just go upstairs for a while; I've got a headache."

Instantly, his eyes filled with concern, and he put the back of his hand on my forehead as if checking for a fever. "Take an aspirin and lay down. I'll be here if you need me. I may take a short walk around the house," he said and raised his eyebrows. I knew that meant he was going to go make sure the Cullens really had left the property.

"Thanks."

Jake turned to go, then impulsively turned back and pulled me into a hug. I put my arms around his waist and squeezed, then gently pulled away. He kissed the top of my head, and pushed through the crowd towards the front door.

I stepped into the living room and flattened myself against the wall. There were a lot fewer people on the stairs than anywhere else, but I still had to navigate around small clusters of people before I could get to my room. It was a relief to shut the door behind me and block out the worst of the music, though I could still feel the bass vibrating up through the floor.

I sat on my bed, then pulled a bottle of Advil out of my nightstand. I doled out two and dry-swallowed them. Instantly I felt better, even though I knew the medicine hadn't really had time to kick in yet. After a guilty glance at the door to make sure it was still shut, I pulled Alice's note out of my pocket.

Her handwriting was delicate, feminine, with lots of curls.

_Come to lunch with me tomorrow. I'll meet you at your school, 12:00 sharp. ~A._

Lunch. Alice Cullen wanted to take me to lunch. What's more, I wanted to go with her. She seemed nice, and I just couldn't associate her with the word "vampire." I wanted to be friends with her, and she seemed to feel the same way. Besides, I told myself, if I could get her to trust me, I might be able to get the truth about the vampires out of her.

Okay, that was stretching it. There was no way Alice was going to confide in me over lunch. Hell, I was taking a huge risk in assuming that she was actually going to take me to lunch. A thought struck me, and I suddenly turned cold: what if _I_ was supposed to be lunch?

No. I refused to think that. The Cullens might have a rogue vampire in their … coven was it? … but the ones I'd met didn't seem to mean me any harm. Edward could easily have killed me in the woods, and Alice and Esme could have done the same at their flower shop. They couldn't all be bad – even Edward, though I still didn't trust him.

I sighed; I needed to get back down to the party. It wasn't what I'd wanted for my birthday, but Jess had put a lot of work into it, so I should at least pretend to be grateful. But I still didn't stand for another ten or fifteen minutes.

As I passed my window, something colorful caught my eye – something that hadn't been there when I walked into the room. Hands shaking, I moved closer. It was a bright blue envelope, wedged between the closed pane of glass and the screen on the outside. Frowning, I slid the window open just far enough to grab the corner of the envelope with my fingernails, and drew it out. Then I slammed the window shut again.

My name was on the outside of the envelope in loopy script. I tore open the flap and pulled out the card.

It was very simple; no picture or anything. The outside was printed with, "Wishing you many happy returns on your special day." There were no words printed inside, but the sender had written a note in the same loopy script that was on the envelope. I couldn't remember the last time I'd read cursive, so it took me a few moments to decipher it. It merely said:

_You intrigue me. Edward_

I wasn't sure whether to be terrified or flattered. In the end I decided on a little bit of both. I was flattered that he'd come with a card in hand – particularly when he knew I wouldn't have expected it. But when I realized that he had climbed the tree outside my room and placed the card between my screen and my window without me noticing, I was definitely scared. If he could be _that_ quiet, there was no way to guard against them. They could come from anywhere, do anything to me they wanted, and I'd have no warning.

I hastily shoved the card back into the envelope and hid both in the bottom drawer of my night stand, under spare notebooks and journals and an assortment of ballpoint pens. Then, schooling my features so that Jake wouldn't know anything was bothering me, I went back downstairs.

It didn't take me long to find Jake, since he was by far the tallest person in the room. He was in a corner with two other people – a girl and a boy – and as I got closer I recognized the boy as Seth Clearwater. That made me smile; I'd liked Seth when I met him the other night.

As I drew closer, I could hear them talking, though I couldn't quite understand what they were saying. It was obvious that they were upset, though. Jake was frowning at the girl, who was practically snarling at him. Seth, who was about a head shorter than both Jake and the girl, was trying to get in between them, as if he were afraid they were going to get into a fight. They were too focused on each other to notice me when I finally drew within earshot.

"Leah, I told you to stand down," Jake said. "If you pull a stunt like that again, I'll have to tell Sam. And don't think you're going to get special treatment because you're sleeping with him."

"Fuck Sam," Leah snapped. "And fuck you. You don't outrank me."

"Leah, relax," pleaded Seth. He put a hand on her arm, but she viciously shook it off. "There is no rank in the pack. There's just the Alpha and then there's us."

Leah continued her tirade as if Seth hadn't spoken. "I don't know what the hell your problem is, Jacob, but you'd better get it sorted. We're supposed to be keeping them in check, remember?"

"They haven't done anything!" Jake said in exasperation. I could tell by the tone in his voice that this wasn't the first time he and Leah had had this argument. "At least, nothing we can prove."

"He was there, Jacob. I could smell him all over the place. He was there the night Amy got attacked, and I'll kill him for it."

"He wasn't the only one there," said Seth reasonably. "Their new girl was too, the redhead; what's her name?"

"Victoria," said Jake. "And when we got there, Edward didn't seem interested in Amy."

I froze at that. So I was right – he had been tracking her that night.

"He looked more interested in cornering the rogue than in hurting Amy. They were there long before us – if he'd wanted to kill Amy, he would have."

Leah threw her hands up in the air. "Why are you taking his side?"

"I'm not! I just don't think – "

"Do you have the hots for him or something?"

" – that we have enough proof to do anything yet," he finished, as though she hadn't spoken.

"Besides, Jake has better taste than to like a vampire," Seth said. "I mean, they're _dead_ aren't they?"

Leah gave Seth a look so filled with disgust that I suddenly wondered if she was going to vomit all over him in the middle of my living room. "I'm done with this," she said. She stepped away from the boys, and started towards the front door, then stopped and sniffed the air. Suddenly, she turned and aimed her glare at me. "I thought I smelled a spy. Happy birthday, Bella, and congratulations on your new boyfriend. I just hope he doesn't kill you before Jake decides we've got enough proof to execute him." With that, she turned and stomped out of the house, slamming the front door behind her.

I exhaled slowly, feeling like I'd just escaped a natural disaster.

"Sorry about her," said Seth. "I keep trying to teach her manners, but it never seems to stick. I think obedience school might be the next step."

I raised my eyebrows; so the kid had a sense of humor.

"How much of that did you hear?" asked Jake.

"I walked in when you were telling Leah to stand down. Isn't that soldier-speak? Do you guys have your own military?"

Seth rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. Where would the rez get the funds for something like that?"

"I wasn't talking about the rez; I was talking about the wolves."

Seth turned to Jake, eyes wide. "_You told her?_" Jake gave a sheepish shrug. "Damn. Sam's gonna kill you."

"Like Leah said, fuck Sam."

Seth wrinkled his nose. "That's gross. He's doing my big sister."

Jake snorted and ruffled Seth's hair. "You're a smartass, anyone ever tell you that?"

I laughed as Seth beamed like he'd been given a huge compliment. "I think I like this kid. But, really Jake, what was that all about?"

Jake sighed, looked around the room to make sure no one was coming our way, then pulled me further into a corner. Seth followed right behind. "I followed their scent, but they split up out in the yard. I knew Seth and Leah were on patrol duty tonight, so I phased and called them to help me. I followed Edward and they tracked the others." He broke off and glanced around again before continuing. "Edward detoured by your room before rejoining the others. I followed his scent up the tree outside your window. I think he was trying to spy on you."

I shuffled my feet. I had to tell Jake about the card, or he'd think Edward was worse than he really was, though I still wasn't sure how bad that actually was. "He wasn't spying. He left a birthday card in my window."

"_He what?_"

"I think this is a good time for me to go sample the punch," Seth said. "You want anything Bella?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm good, thanks."

He nodded and disappeared into the crowd.

"Bells, the card?"

I shrugged. "It was just a birthday card. The fact that he managed to sneak it into my window while I was in the room is a bit creepy, I'll grant, but the card wasn't anything special. He probably would have given it to me in person if we hadn't chased them off."

"What did it say?"

"That's none of your business!" Jake didn't say anything, he just glared at me. "Alright, fine. It said, 'You intrigue me.'"

"That's it?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"Huh," interjected Seth, who had returned with two cups of punch. "Maybe you do have a vampire boyfriend." He downed the contents of one plastic cup and then stacked the full one inside the empty. "I think someone spiked this."

"No more for you then," said Jake, taking the other cup out of Seth's hand.

"Why not? It's not like we can get drunk with our metabolisms."

"You're fourteen," Jake said dryly.

"You're underage too."

"By a lot less," I said. "Jake's legal in most countries. I'm with him on this one."

Seth sulked for a moment, then brightened as something across the room caught his eye. "Who's the hottie?" he whispered, sneakily pointing at someone.

I looked where he was pointing, then laughed. "That's Jess. She's the one who planned all this. She's almost four years older than you. And taken," I added as we watched her kiss Mike, then make her way across the crowd towards us.

"Happy birthday Bella!" she exclaimed when she was close enough for us to hear her over the music. "You like it?" She gestured with her arms, indicating the whole of the house.

"It's great," I lied.

Jake snorted, then covered it with a cough, pretending he was choking on his punch.

"Hey Jacob," Jess said. Though her voice lost some of its warmth, I could tell she was making an effort to be friendly. "Bella said you're coming to the movies with us this weekend."

"Yeah, I guess so. Which movie?"

"We don't know yet," I said. "Jess is shooting for the chick flick, but the guys keep trying to change her mind."

"I think I'm with them," Jake said. "Maybe I should go find them and we can talk strategies."

"Good luck," I said, and meant it. I still wasn't keen on the chick flick either. Jake grinned and walked away, grabbing Seth and dragging him along when he seemed inclined to stay with Jess and me.

"Tell Mike I said not to be an ass," Jess called after them.

"Thanks," I told her.

She shrugged. "No problem. I'm not sure how much I like Jacob, but that's no excuse for Mike to be an asshole." She took another sip of her punch, then looked me straight in the eye. "Tell me the truth: you're not loving this party, are you?"

I shrugged, but when she raised her eyebrows I admitted, "Not really."

"It wasn't supposed to be this big, but people started inviting their friends, and then I ran into Alice Cullen at the grocery store, and she looked so excited when she saw I was planning a party. I think she's lonely, you know? She spends most of her time in that flower shop with her step-mom, and the rest of it with her boyfriend and step-siblings. I've never seen her out with anyone else. So I had to invite her, and I guess she brought some of the family with her, but they seem to have left already.

"The point is, this got way bigger than I meant it to, and I'm sorry."

"It's alright. As long as everyone's gone by ten, I won't be upset."

"Good!" She gave a huge smile of relief. "Oh! Hold this." She thrust her cup of punch at me, and I grabbed it while doing a little dance to avoid spilling it on myself as she dug something out of her pocket. It was a tiny box wrapped in pastel paper. "Happy birthday," she said as she handed it to me.

"Oh, Jess, I wasn't expecting anything."

"I know. I didn't break the bank or anything, and I know you don't go in much for girly stuff, but every girl needs a set of these."

Frowning, I handed Jess her drink and pulled off the paper. Underneath was a simple black box, and when I pulled the lid off, a tiny pair of earrings sat nestled on a bed of cotton. They were little gold studs set with white opals. "Jess, they're gorgeous!"

"You really like them?"

"I do. They're small, but classy. And opals go with almost everything. I'll wear them to the first school formal or something. Thank you." I reached out and hugged her.

"I'm so glad. I mean, I know you wear earrings, but you usually just wear the same silver posts for weeks at a time, so I wasn't sure."

"They're great. Really."

"Good." She grinned. "Well, I'd better get back to Mike and make sure he hasn't verbally assaulted Jacob yet."

"Don't worry about Jake. He's fine, and he's got Seth as a backup. He's got a smart mouth. And he thinks you're a hottie." I raised my eyebrows suggestively, which made her laugh.

"He's just a kid, but he seems like a nice one. Maybe a little harmless flirtation is in order. Give him good dreams tonight."

"Jess, you're terrible!" I said, but I was laughing just as much as she was. I tucked the little box in my pocket and watched as Jess walked back across the room, purposely exaggerating the sway in her walk. Seth was doing his best not to stare, but was failing miserably until Jake casually thumped the top of his head. He might as well have not bothered, because as soon as she got there, Jess started a conversation with Seth. I hung around just long enough to see that Seth quickly recovered his wits, and within a couple of moments it looked like he and Jess were having a genuine conversation. Good for him, I thought. I was glad he wasn't easily intimidated.

Jake caught my gaze across the crowd and rolled his eyes. I just shrugged, then pointed at myself, then the ceiling, indicating that I was going back upstairs. He gave a slight nod, and mouthed "I'll call you" before I slipped away, otherwise unnoticed.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: So, I planned up update weeks ago. In fact, most of this chapter has been finished for weeks. But I got sidetracked by NaNoWriMo and by end of quarter duties at work, and I just haven't had time to finish/proofread it. But it's holidays and I have time, so here it is!

I adore Alice, even in canon, so I tried to keep her personality as close as possible to the original, except for the bit about not being good at secret-keeping -- though that may be a ploy of some kind on her part; I'm not entirely sure yet. The hardest bit is not writing her and Bella as a pairing, because usually I 'ship them a bit. But I think I managed fairly well.

* * *

"Bella? Bella Swan? Isabella!"

I blinked. "Sorry, what?"

"Thank you for rejoining the class." Everyone around me laughed as Mr. Sutton crossed his arms and gave me a look of exasperation. "I'm not sure where you were just now, but you apparently find it much more interesting than the Revolutionary War. Care to share with the rest of us?"

I blushed. "Sorry, I'm just tired."

"Yes, I hear hosting a party on a school night will do that to you."

I winced. How did he know about that?

"While Bella catches up to us, does anyone else want to tell me what exactly the American colonists meant by 'No taxation without representation?'"

I tried to listen as Mr. Sutton lectured about the Boston Tea Party, but my attention kept wandering. It had been like that all day. I almost dropped one of the school's expensive microscopes in biology, completely mangled my conjugations in Spanish, and pre-calculus had been a total loss – though that was the case pretty much every day.

I couldn't stop thinking about Alice and our lunch date. It just didn't make sense; why should I be of interest to her or any of the other vampires? And, more importantly I thought, where did she plan on taking me? If we were going out in public, I thought I could risk it. After all, the Cullens were out in public all the time, and nobody died or disappeared afterward. So, I'd ask her before getting in the car. If she was taking me to a restaurant, I'd be safe.

But what if she just _said_ she was taking me to a restaurant? Once I was in the car, I'd be trapped. It would be easy for her to kidnap me, and there was no way I could escape. I'd seen how fast she'd moved last night at the party. They were sneaky – Edward have proved that by leaving the card – and dangerous above all. What they'd done to Amy Kim…and Charlie had said that her boyfriend David had been completely torn apart.

What the hell was I doing? Why was I even considering this? It was stupid and reckless, and Jake was going to kill me when he found out. Charlie too, if he ever learned what the Cullens were.

I could still back out. After all, I'd never promised Alice anything. All I had to do was ignore her. Stay in the school building, have lunch in the cafeteria as usual. If I stood her up, she'd probably leave me alone.

But then I'd never know. Everything I knew about vampires would still come from too much _Buffy_ and whatever Jake told me. Besides, it was obvious that Jake and the other wolves weren't doing a very good job of figuring out which of the vampires had gone rogue. Alice seemed to want to be friends with me; maybe I could do a better job than the tribe had. It was a long shot – and a foolish one – but I was going to take it.

When the bell rang for lunch, I was the first one out the door. I ran down the hallway and shoved my books in my locker, exchanging them for my purse as the hallway began to fill with students. I slammed the locker shut and turned to run for the front door, but Angela was blocking my way. She's not as tall as Jake, but she's way taller than me, which makes her a formidable roadblock.

"Where are you going?"

"Lunch."

She pointed over my shoulder. "The cafeteria is that way."

"I'm going off-campus."

"That's against the rules."

I sighed. "I know; please don't tell."

Angela shrugged and stepped aside. "Why would I tell? The food here sucks; I can't blame you for wanting something better."

I sighed in relief. Thank God it was Angela who'd caught me. If it had been Jess, she'd have thought I was meeting a guy and then pestered me with a hundred questions.

"I just wanted to give you a heads-up: Jess is match-making."

I shrugged. That wasn't unusual.

"For you."

My mouth dropped open. "But why?"

Angela shrugged again. "She's Jess. Last I heard, she was looking at Eric."

"Eric Yorkie?"

"That's the one."

I frowned as I thought about it. "He's cute, but we have nothing in common. Besides, isn't he dating Katie Marshall?"

"Jess says they're not official yet. And that's not the point; the point is, watch Jess. I just didn't want you to end up surprised if she tries to bring him with us to the movies this weekend."

I shrugged. "Jake's my date, so Eric'll just end up being third-wheel."

"You mean seventh," Angela said with a snicker.

"Well, math never was my strong point," I said. I put a hand on Angela's arm. "Thanks for telling me. I've got to go, now, or I'll be late."

"Have fun." Angela continued on to the cafeteria, and I checked my watch. It was still five minutes before noon, so if I hurried, I wouldn't keep Alice waiting. I didn't run this time; I figured that would look suspicious, and since I was about to break the school rules, suspicion was the last thing I wanted. I dodged around crowds of people, keeping one hand tightly on my purse even while realizing I was probably acting paranoid. This was Forks, not Phoenix, and kids didn't just run around stealing things. Hell, half the students didn't even have padlocks on their lockers.

Once outside, I stood on the front steps and scanned the parking lot. I had no idea what kind of car Alice would drive, but I figured the one with the heaviest window tinting would be hers. Moments later, a bright yellow Porsche careened into the parking lot and screeched to a halt in front of me. The windows were almost black, and I was sure that much tint was illegal.

The passenger-side window rolled down and Alice looked at me over the top of her sunglasses. "Well, are you coming?"

I wanted to say, "Yes!" and hop into the car, but I forced myself to be reasonable. Only if we were going to be in public. "Where are we going?"

"I was thinking the Golden Gate. Do you like Chinese?"

I grinned. "Love it."

Alice leaned across and opened the car door for me. "Come on, before you get caught."

"I'm the new girl; I probably get one get out of jail free card." Still, I glanced over my shoulder to make sure I wasn't being watched before I slid inside the car.

The moment my door was shut and my seat belt buckled, Alice hit the gas and we raced out of the parking lot. I reached up and grabbed the handle above my window as she swerved around a corner. "You do realize that this is a school zone, right? Speeding tickets double in school zones."

"I can afford it."

I stared at her. That wasn't quite the point I'd been trying to make.

"I love cars," she said. "I love driving fast. But I've never hit anyone or caused an accident."

All I could think was that if Charlie found out he was going to kill me. Or her. Maybe both. But when I looked at the speedometer, she wasn't going more than 45 miles an hour, which made me feel better. A good portion of town was at least 35 anyway. I let go of the handle above my head and forced myself to relax. Then I turned to look at Alice.

She was wearing huge Hollywood incognito sunglasses, and had a scarf tied over her head to shade her face. She also wore bright red leather gloves, and the rest of her clothing covered her from neck to toe. Maybe the sun was more of a problem for them than I'd thought.

Alice glanced over at me. "What?"

"Just looking at your gloves."

"I like bright colors, as you can probably tell." She took a hand off the steering wheel to gesture to her outfit. Her jeans were bright red as well; they looked like something someone would have worn in the eighties, but somehow Alice made it look fashionably retro rather than out-of-date.

We were silent until we reached the restaurant. Inside, the hostess smiled and seated us in a corner booth. Then she handed us our menus and took our drink orders. I glanced at the menu, decided on the broccoli beef, then set the menu aside.

"This is nice," Alice said when we were alone again. "I haven't been here in a while; we usually order take-out." She removed her gloves, sunglasses, and scarf, then propped her elbows on the table. "I bet you're wondering why I invited you here."

"Actually, yeah. Don't get me wrong, it's nice, but I've only talked to you twice, for less than five minutes." I picked up a fork just so I could have something to do with my hands. "It just seemed a bit weird since you don't know me."

Alice leaned forward. "Oh, but I do! You're eighteen years old, and an only child. You're best friends with the youngest Black boy, which means you have questionable taste, but I suppose you don't know any better. Your favorite subject is English, you like to read, and you're protective of your parents."

I couldn't do anything but stare at her. And she wasn't even finished.

"You're curious, you make friends easy, and you prefer reason to emotion. I know more, but that's enough for now."

I was speechless for about thirty seconds. When I recovered, I demanded, "Have you been _spying_ on me? Is that why Edward was skulking around my house? Why you convinced Jess to invite you to my party?"

"Of course I haven't been spying on you, Bella! That would be rude. I just know things."

"How?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

I swore. I was really tired of hearing that from people. "Try me."

"Alright." She gave me an apprehensive look, and took a deep breath before saying, "I'm psychic."

"Oh." That wasn't what I'd been expecting her to say.

"Do you believe me?"

I thought about it for a moment. After learning that vampires and werewolves, shapeshifters, or whatever Jake was, were real, believing in psychics wasn't much of a stretch. And if people could be psychics, there didn't seem to be any reason vampires couldn't be. Still…

"I think I believe that you _could_ be psychic – I mean, I have no proof that you're not. I'm not sure whether or not I believe that you _are_."

Alice sighed in relief and leaned back against the booth. "Well, that's more than I'd hoped for."

At that moment, the waitress returned with our drinks and asked if we were ready to order. "I'll have a bowl of egg drop soup," Alice said, "and I think she wants the broccoli beef."

The waitress turned to me for confirmation, and I nodded. "It'll be just a few minutes," she said, then took our orders back to the kitchen.

"Okay, I believe you," I told Alice when the waitress was out of earshot. "But I don't think you're telling me the whole truth."

"I'll tell you as much as I can. I had…well, sort of a vision. It was of you and Edward embracing."

I frowned; me embrace Edward? That didn't seem likely.

"I don't really get much from my visions. They're actually more like impressions, occasionally with pictures. Sometimes I just know things. And I could see you together, and I knew who you were."

"What, so I'm destined to be with Edward? That's just disturbing. I don't even like Edward."

Alice shook her head. "It doesn't work like that. It's not about predestination. I just sort of see who people are, and sometimes a bit of what they'll become." She grinned. "And of course you like Edward. You think he's strange, and you're not sure you trust him, but you're intrigued by him. As much as he is by you."

I stood. "Look, maybe this wasn't such a good idea. I've got enough matchmaking to deal with as it is, so if this whole thing is just a ploy to get me on a date with your step-brother, you're wasting your time."

Oh, God, I was standing in a Chinese restaurant, talking about dating a vampire! It would have been ridiculously amusing if it hadn't been happening to me.

Quickly, Alice stood and put a hand on my arm. "Bella don't go, please! This isn't about Edward, I promise. I wasn't going to meddle. I promised Jasper that I'd stay out of it, but then you came into the flower shop, and you were so nice, and so concerned about the Kim girl that I thought, 'This is a girl I could be friends with.'" She bit her lip, then continued, "I don't have many friends, Bella. Mostly just my family. Please stay. I'll try not to be too weird."

Her eyes welled up, and I realized that Alice was either completely sincere or the best damned actress I'd ever met. I wasn't sure which, but I was curious to find out.

"I'll stay," I said, and sat back down.

"Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Alice squealed and bent over to hug me. I threw up my hands to ward her off – I didn't want her that near my neck yet. "Sorry, too touchy. Jasper always tells me I'm too touchy with other people." She sat back down.

"Jasper's your boyfriend?"

"Husband. We got married young, and I'm actually a bit older than I look."

I had to hold back a snort. She looked about nineteen or twenty. I wondered how old she actually was. Fifty? One hundred and fifty? A thousand? But I had to pretend I didn't know anything about her, so…

"If you're married, why still live with your foster parents?"

"Well, since Esme and I run the shop together, it's easier. Plus, it's a big house."

"What about the others? Isn't it weird for them living with a married couple?"

Alice threw back her head and laughed. "Heavens no. They're all couples themselves, except Edward. Carlisle and Esme, Emmett and Rosalie, and Victoria and James."

James. I hadn't heard off him before. I'd have to remember to tell Jake.

"Don't the social services ask questions, though? A bunch of foster kids pairing off together seems pretty unusual."

"Oh, social services isn't involved. Carlisle and Esme just take in people who need help."

It still struck me as weird that a bunch of couples who were posing as humans would all live together in one big house. If I hadn't already known they were a coven of vampires, I'd assume they were swingers or some sort of cult.

"Plus, Victoria and James aren't permanent; they'll be leaving as soon as – " Alice quickly stopped talking, and her eyes widened as if she'd been about to say something she wasn't supposed to say. "Well, just soon. When James gets better."

I lowered my eyebrows. "Is he sick?"

"Something like that."

Well, that was interesting. I'd never thought about vampires getting sick before. How was that possible? I mean, they were dead, right?

Maybe she didn't mean physically sick. Maybe she meant mentally or emotionally sick. That made more sense. Maybe James had depression or –

– or maybe James was the vampire doing all of the killing. It would make sense. It couldn't be any of the vampires who'd come to my party last night, or the others wouldn't have let them come. I compared the names Alice had just said with the people I was introduced to last night. I hadn't met Rosalie, Victoria, or James yet.

"So," I said slowly, trying to think of a question that would convince Alice to talk more about the Cullens, "I know that you and Esme run the shop, and Carlile's a doctor. What do the rest of you guys do?"

"Rosalie's a model. She's really pretty – she's got that white-blonde hair that so many girls would kill for. Emmett coaches basketball at the junior high." Alice beamed. "He's really good with the kids. Edward's a musician, though he hasn't done much with that career-wise. He says making it his job would take the fun out of it. I think he's also going to school again, doing something by correspondence or something; I haven't paid attention. James, like I said, is sick, but he used to work for forestry or something. Maybe search and rescue? I think Victoria's some sort of artist, but right now she's focusing more on James than anything.

"So that's us.

"What about you? What do you plan to do for college next year?"

I did my best to answer all the usual questions that new acquaintances ask each other, but mostly I was going back through the list of vampires Alice had given me, and comparing what she'd said to what Amy Kim had told me she'd seen the night of her attack.

Amy had seen a red-haired woman and a brown-haired man. The woman had to be Victoria. Rosalie was blonde and I'd met the rest of the Cullen women, so Victoria was the only choice. Edward was the only brown-haired man I'd met, unless Emmett counted, but I didn't think he did. His hair was dark enough that it would look black at night. Of course, James might have brown hair too.

So the tally was: Victoria, Edward or James, and a third mystery vamp. Now, all I had to do was help Jake figure out who the third vampire was, and the tribe would have a much easier time sorting out the problem. Almost immediately, I found myself hoping that Alice wasn't the third mystery vamp, because I liked her. She talked a lot, but she seemed very sweet. She made sure to thank the waitress when she delivered our food, and she asked as many questions about me as she answered about herself and her family. I could also tell by the way her gaze almost never left my face that she was starved for human interaction. I almost invited her to the movies that weekend, but then I decided that it would probably be best if I kept the supernatural and natural parts of my life as separate as possible.

Though how the hell I was going to do that when I had Jake for my best friend I didn't know.

"Oh!" Alice said suddenly, "it's almost one o'clock. I'd better get you back to school so you don't get in trouble!" She signaled the waitress and asked for the check.

"What do I owe?" I asked as she studied the receipt.

"Nothing." She looked up and smiled at me. "My treat."

"You don't have to do that."

"But I want to! It's been so nice to talk to someone I haven't known for half-a-century – figuratively speaking of course," she said quickly. "When you live with people it feels like you've known them for much longer than you actually have."

I suddenly realized why Alice didn't get out much: she seemed to be terrible at keeping secrets. I smiled to myself; a few more lunches like this, and Alice would probably tell me everything.

"Well, thank you," I told her. "It was a very enjoyable lunch." Rather enlightening as well.

Alice smiled. "You're very welcome."


End file.
